Treasury plots departmentwide contract to streamline cybersecurity services

The Treasury Department is gearing up to launch a blanket purchase agreement contract that will source and streamline enterprisewide cybersecurity services for its bureaus and offices.

Known as the PROviding Treasury Enterprise Cybersecurity Technology & Services (PROTECTS) program, the vehicle is meant to “furnish the best cybersecurity services possible to Treasury, Treasury Bureaus and those federal government agencies who depend on Treasury for their financial management,” according to draft contract documents released Wednesday.

Specifically, the contract will focus on supporting the department’s security operations center (SOC) functions with core services like SOC architecture, engineering, deployment, and management, incident management, vulnerability management, and more.

Under the eight-year blanket purchase agreement, bureaus and offices from across Treasury, including the IRS, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, and others, will have access to the array of cyber services.

Treasury also emphasizes in the draft contract that PROTECTS is much more than a vehicle to provide cybersecurity. “The intent of PROTECTS SOC is to adapt and transform SOC operations and operating models across Treasury and its Bureaus to improve capabilities, consistency, and economies of scale across the Treasury enterprise cybersecurity and SOC functions while reducing enterprise cybersecurity risks including new, emerging, or evolving cyber threats,” it says.

The contract document continues: “This BPA has the capability to address all mission-critical requirements for each Bureau, thereby replacing the many diverse contract vehicles across Treasury and eliminating the multiple types of service contracts.”

Work under the contract will be divided into two models: on-premise support of government-led operations and work fully led by a managed service provider.

At this point in the acquisition cycle, Treasury wants feedback from interest parties on the proposed PROTECTS contract and is accepting comments and questions through Nov. 1.

Treasury did not share the value of the contract in the draft documents. The eventual final contract will be solicited and awarded under the General Services Administration’s Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services Special Item Number contracting vehicle.