The government is never going to fix its cybersecurity problem until it fixes its procurement problem!
Shockingly, there are no NAICS, SIC or SIN CODES for cybersecurity products on the GSA Schedule. As a California Certified Small Business owner who offers multi-factor authentication (MFA) products on the GSA Schedule, this is a serious problem.
Without cybersecurity procurement codes, government agencies and departments are unable to find, let alone implement, targeted products and services to keep our nation’s electronic data secure. Current procedure involves a keyword search on the GSA Schedule. If the exact keyword is not typed or listed, no match is found. An agency’s only recourse then becomes generating expensive and time consuming RFIs, RFPs and RFQs. Cybersecurity NAICS, SIN and SIC codes are designed streamline the entire process, save money and ensure fast cybersecurity implementations.
Without updated procurement codes, small businesses like mine (and many others) are at a great disadvantage. We don’t have the resources to lobby every agency about our state-of-the-art solutions. Contracts tend to get awarded to the major primes, which are often not up to speed fighting the latest hacking technology. When we contact the primes to become a supplier, they too don’t know how to classify our products to easily drop into their government bids (no codes match). Some of the most state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions are coming from small businesses. Cybersecurity procurement codes will help government agencies to easily find and implement these solutions.
I have been in the access control industry for over 25 years. I am the CEO of a cybersecurity software company. I am also the author of Making Passwords Secure: Fixing the Weakest Link in Cybersecurity.
IF THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO FIX CYBERSECURITY, IT MUST IMPLEMENT DEDICATED CYBERSECURITY CODES ON THE GSA SCHEDULE! For a more in depth explanation and recommendations, please see my previous blog or contact me.
