P02-Sources Sought- RFI.docx

Sources Sought Notice

VA-26-00050029 User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) Solution

This Is A Sources Sought Notice ONLY. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Research and Development (ORD).

This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a Request for Quote (RFQ)/Invitation for Bid (IFB)/Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFQ, IFB or RFP in the future. This notice does not commit the VA to contract for any supply or service. Further, the VA is not seeking quotes, bids or proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals in response to this sources sought notice. The VA will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this notice. Submittals will not be returned to the responder. Not responding to this notice does not preclude participation in any future RFQ or IFB or RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Governmentwide Point of Entry. It is the responsibility of potential offerors to monitor the Governmentwide Point of Entry for additional information pertaining to this requirement. (SEE EMBEDDED PWS)

The anticipated NAICS code is: 541519

RESPONSES

In response to this sources sought, please provided: Name of the firm, point of contact, phone number, email address, Unique Entity ID number, CAGE code, a statement regarding small business status (including small business type (s)/certifications(s) such as SDB, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, etc.), Authorized Reseller letter (If Applicable) and the corresponding NAICS code. Responses to this RFI shall also identify the tool they are offering, and FedRamp certification level or ability to obtain FedRamp certification with anticipated level, including a projected timeframe for obtaining certification.

The following information details the Government’s intent for this acquisition:

a. The primary NAICS code for this effort is 541519

b. A Firm-Fixed Price contract will be issued.

c. VA anticipates awarding the task order or contract to only one responsive, responsible contractor.

RESPONSE SUBMISSION

Please submit responses via email to Marcela.Clark2@va.gov by 12:00 PM CST, March 13, 2026. Responses should also include a contact name, point of contact, phone number, Unique Entity ID number, CAGE code, email address, as well as any contract vehicle available. VA reserves the right not to respond to any or all emails or materials submitted.

DISCLAIMER

Reminder: This Sources Sought is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this Sources Sought that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Source Sought.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION (PD)

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Office of Information & Technology Infrastructure Operations (IO)

Validation Authority and OCSP Responder Services Solution Date: January 8, 2026

VA-26-000XXXX

PD Version Number: 1.2

Contents

PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requires a brand name HID Global ActiVID Validation Authority (VA) and Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responder solution, or an equivalent system, to provide enterprise-wide certificate validation services for 2,003,038 human and device identities. The required solution must support initial provisioning of all software licenses, installation and configuration, and all associated professional and support services necessary to deliver a fully operational capability.

Any proposed equal solution must meet or exceed all Salient Characteristics in Table 1 and must provide functional equivalence to all brand-name components listed in Table 2.

The Period of Performance (PoP) shall be 07/1/2026 - 06/30/2027 with one (1) Optional Task as described in section 1.3 and two (2) 12-month option periods for continued support, as described in section 1.2.

SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS - VALIDATION AUTHORITY (VA) SERVICES AND OCSP RESPONDER SOLUTION The Contractor shall provide a brand name HID Global ActiVID Validation Authority and OCSP responder solution, or an equal solution, capable of meeting the VA’s enterprise requirements for certificate validation, revocation, availability, integration, and security.

The requirements in Table 1 – Salient Characteristics define the minimum mandatory performance, functional, security, and interoperability characteristics of the required solution. These characteristics represent the baseline against which any proposed equal product will be evaluated.

Salient Characteristics in Table 1 outline the minimum required capabilities for the solution, and equal products should align with these baseline requirements.

Table 1 – Salient Characteristics

2. Online Certificate Status Protocol Responding: Works with Online Certificate (OCSP) Responders to provide real-time queries for a certificate’s status (Good, Revoked, Unknown)

3. Server-based Certificate Validation Protocol (SCVP): Supports this protocol for more complex path validation requests, ensuring the entire chain is valid.

4. High Availability & Performance: Deploys responders close to users for low latency, scalable and highly available certificate status checks.

5. Integration: Connects with various Certificate Authorities (CA)s to gather revocation data and provides APIs for integration.

6. Performance Requirements: Should be able to complete 31 proofs a week as minimum. Work in coordination to provide certificate status under 100MS.

7. Post Quantum Compliance Shall support the PQC algorithm certificates:

· ML-DSA (FIPS 204)

· ML-DSA-44

· ML-DSA-65

· ML-DSA-87

· ML-KEM (FIPS 203)

· ML-KEM-512

· ML-KEM-768

· ML-KEM-1024

· SLH-DSA (FIPS 205)

· SLH-DSA-SHA2-128F

· SLH-DSA-SHA2-128S

· SLH-DSA-SHA2-192F

· SLH-DSA-SHA2-192S

· SLH-DSA-SHA2-256F

· SLH-DSA-SHA2-256S

· SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128F

· SLH-DSA-SHAKE-128S

· SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192F

· SLH-DSA-SHAKE-192S

· SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256F

· SLH-DSA-SHAKE-256S

8. Issuance status shall be securely stored and published.

Online Certificate Status Protocol

(OCSP)

1. Real-Time Certificate Validation

a. Offer real-time certificate status validation via OCSP, ensuring prompt response times for high availability.

i. Real-Time Validation: Shall provide an external OCSP responder designed to validate certificate revocation in real-time.

ii. Dedicated Database: Shall utilize a dedicated database for storing certificate status information, eliminating the need for Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs).

iii. Instantaneous Updates: Shall update the OCSP database instantaneously whenever there are changes in the status of certificates, such as issuance or revocation, ensuring the most current and accurate certificate status information.

b. Shall complete requests under 100MS.

c. Shall be capable of handling over 33 million certificate validation requests per 24-hour period.

2. Performance and Availability

a. Define OCSP response times and ensure high availability to meet operational requirements.

i. Multiple OCSP Responders: Shall support configuring multiple OCSP responders on multiple nodes, each maintaining its own database to ensure high availability and independence. The service shall provide sufficient OCSP responder capacity to meet all performance, availability, and throughput requirements of this specification. The current HID Global OEM implementation utilizes thirteen (13) OCSP responders; however, alternative solutions may propose a different number of responders, provided they meet or exceed the required performance levels.

ii. Independent and Common HA Configurations: Shall support both independent databases for each node.

iii. Audit and Transaction Logging: Shall produce transaction and audit logging for each OCSP responder node.

iv. Features:

a. One responder shall respond for any number of CAs.

b. Status information shall be stored in an SQL database.

c. Built-in health check shall be used by load balancers and for monitoring.

d. Shall support linear scalability for performance and high availability by adding multiple nodes.

e. Shall achieve high performance, with the capability of handling >500 requests per second on a single server.

3. Compatibility

a. Ensure OCSP services are compatible with VA’s network infrastructure and applications for seamless integration.

i. Standards Compliance: Shall implement RFC 2560, RFC 6960, and RFC 5019.

ii. Custom Extensions: Shall support a plug-in mechanism for custom OCSP extensions.

iii. Configurable Security: Shall be configurable for requiring signed requests, authorized signers, etc.

iv. Response Configuration: Shall be able to answer "good" or "unknown" to non-existing certificates, with different configurations based on request URI.

v. HSM and Soft Key Support: Shall support PKCS#11 HSMs and soft keys.

a. Provide secure RESTful APIs for integration with VA systems, supporting seamless data exchange and interoperability.

i. RESTful API Endpoints: Shall provide endpoints for integration with certificate management, CA management, crypto token management, and ConfigDump RESTful Web Services.

ii. Functionality: Shall support certificate requests, enrollment, revocation, import and export of configurations, and more to facilitate seamless integration.

2. Supported Protocols and Data Formats

a. Specify protocols (e.g., HTTPS) and data formats (e.g., JSON, XML) to ensure compatibility with VA’s integration standards.

i. Secure Transmission: Shall provide APIs available over HTTPS for secure data transmission.

ii. Data Formats: Shall support JSON data formats.

3. Compliance with VA Security Standards

a. Ensure APIs comply with VA’s security Standards, including authentication, authorization, and encryption.

i. Authentication Mechanisms: Shall require either client certificate authentication or OAuth as the authentication mechanism.

ii. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Shall map client credentials to a Role defined in the RBAC module, applying the role's configured access permissions to the client.

a. The solution must maintain a minimum of 99.9% uptime to ensure continuous access to services and minimize downtime.

b. Establish redundancy at critical points in the infrastructure to prevent single points of failure, including redundant servers, network paths, and storage.

2. Automated Failover Capabilities

a. Implement automated failover mechanisms that seamlessly transfer services to backup systems in the event of primary system failure.

b. Failover should be configured to complete within a specified timeframe (e.g., less than 5 minutes) to ensure minimal service disruption.

i. Shall support an active-active architecture across sites for each part of the system to ensure high availability and reliability.

3. Disaster Recovery (DR) Protocols

a. Shall configure the solution in an active‑active architecture that provides High Availability (HA) and supports Disaster Recovery (DR)

b. Backup data and configurations must be stored in geographically diverse locations to prevent data loss from regional outages.

4. Health Monitoring and Alerting

a. Alerts should trigger notification to relevant teams and initiate failover processes where applicable.

5. Capacity Planning and Scalability

a. Plan for future growth with scalable resources to handle increased OCSP requirements.

b. Shall define thresholds for resource utilization (e.g., CPU, memory, storage) to trigger scaling actions, ensuring sustained performance during peak usage.

6. Data Synchronization and Consistency Checks

a. Implement integrity checks to verify synchronization accuracy between primary and backup systems.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS AND BRAND NAME COMPONENTS

The Salient Characteristics in Table 1 establish the minimum baseline capabilities required for the solution. Table 2 identifies the HID Global ActiVID brand‑name components that deliver these capabilities. Vendors offering an equal product should provide documentation or a crosswalk matrix showing how their proposed components align with the minimum characteristics and functional intent of both Table 1 and Table 2

Table 2 – Brand Name Components Base Period Period of Performance: 07/1/2026 - 06/30/2027

Services

EA

2,003,038

(OCSP)

EA

Option Period 1 Period of Performance: 07/1/2027 - 06/30/2028

Services

EA

2,003,038

(OCSP)

Option Period 2 Period of Performance: 07/1/2028 - 06/30/2029

Services

2,003,038

(OCSP)

SUPPORT SERVICES

The Contractor shall provide 12 months of support services for the software and licenses included in this PD. The initial support period shall commence upon VA inspection and acceptance.

The support services shall adhere to the following requirements:

1. Support services shall be available by phone 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

2. Support services must be provided from U.S. based personnel and facilities located within the Continental United States (CONUS).

3. Support services shall assist with remediation of all vulnerabilities identified through Government security scans.

4. The OEM shall provide current versions of all software included in this PD throughout the maintenance period.

5. Software and firmware updates, including major releases, point releases, patch management, newly released features, service releases, security releases, and bug fixes.

6. Product Documentation

7. Knowledge Base Documentation

8. User guides

9. User Forum

OPTIONAL TASK - SOFTWARE LICENSING DEPLOYMENT, MIGRATION AND INTEGRATION PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

The Contractor shall provide support to install, migrate and configure all software and licenses included in this PD.

The Contractor shall be responsible for the initial provision of all software licenses, required for the development, delivery, integration, operation of the proposed application(s), software products, software solution, and/or system. This includes any and all application(s), software, and/or software products that are part of, or integrate with the Contractor’s proposed solution.

If the Contractor proposes an alternative vendor solution and is selected for award, the Contractor shall be responsible for maintaining continuity of operations by sustaining the existing HID Global Validation Authority and OCSP Responder solution for the duration of the transition period. The Contractor shall complete migration to the newly proposed solution within 90 days of contract award. The transition shall be executed without degradation to VA’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

KICKOFF MEETING

Within three (3) calendar days of award, the Contractor shall host a Delivery Order (DO) Kickoff Meeting with VA via telephone. Key Contractor personnel involved in designing and managing the procured solutions shall be introduced to the VA Principal Architect (PA), Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), and Program Manager (PM) at this time. A review of the contract deliverables and timetables shall occur to ensure all key VA stakeholders and Contractor personnel work collaboratively to ensure success of the DO. The Contractor shall provide meeting minutes to the COR within three (3) days of the kickoff meeting.

Deliverable:

1. Meeting Minutes

NOTICE OF THE FEDERAL ACCESSIBILITY LAW AFFECTING ALL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) PROCUREMENTS (SECTION 508) On January 18, 2017, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) revised and updated, in a single rulemaking, standards for electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by Federal agencies covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as our guidelines for telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment covered by Section 255 of the Communications Act of 1934. The revisions and updates to the Section 508-based standards and Section 255-based guidelines are intended to ensure that information and communication technology (ICT) covered by the respective statutes is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.

SECTION 508 – INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) STANDARDS

The Section 508 standards established by the Access Board are incorporated into, and made part of all VA orders, solicitations and purchase orders developed to procure ICT. These standards are found in their entirety at: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule/text-of-the-standards-and-guidelines. A printed copy of the standards will be supplied upon request.

Federal agencies must comply with the updated Section 508 Standards beginning on January 18, 2018. The Final Rule as published in the Federal Register is available from the Access Board: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule.

The Contractor shall comply with “508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements” for all electronic ICT and content delivered under this contract. Specifically, as appropriate for the technology and its functionality, the Contractor shall comply with the technical standards marked here:

COMPATABILITY WITH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

The standards do not require installation of specific accessibility-related software or attachment of an assistive technology device. Section 508 requires that ICT be compatible with such software and devices so that ICT can be accessible to and usable by individuals using assistive technology, including but not limited to screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.

ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE TESTING

Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above.

The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above.

The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon delivery.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USING ENERGY-EFFICIENT PRODUCTS

The Contractor shall comply with Sections 524 and Sections 525 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007; Section 104 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005; Executive Order 13834, “Efficient Federal Operations”, dated May 17, 2018; Executive Order 13221, “Energy-Efficient Standby Power Devices,” dated August 2, 2001; and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to provide ENERGY STAR®, Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) designated, low standby power, and Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) registered products in providing information technology products and/or services.

The Contractor shall ensure that information technology products are procured and/or services are performed with products that meet and/or exceed ENERGY STAR, FEMP designated, low standby power, and EPEAT guidelines. The Contractor shall provide/use products that earn the ENERGY STAR label and meet the ENERGY STAR specifications for energy efficiency. Specifically, the Contractor shall:

1. Provide/use ENERGY STAR products, as specified at www.energystar.gov/products (contains complete product specifications and updated lists of qualifying products).

2. Provide/use the purchasing specifications listed for FEMP designated products at https://www4.eere.energy.gov/femp/requirements/laws_and_requirements/energy_star_and_femp_designated_products_procurement_requirements . The Contractor shall use the low standby power products specified at http://energy.gov/eere/femp/low-standby-power-products.

3. Provide/use EPEAT registered products as specified at www.epeat.net. At a minimum, the Contractor shall acquire EPEAT® Bronze registered products. EPEAT registered products are required to meet the technical specifications of ENERGY STAR, but are not automatically on the ENERGY STAR qualified product lists. The Contractor shall ensure that applicable products are on both the EPEAT Registry and ENERGY STAR Qualified Product Lists.

4. The Contractor shall use these products to the maximum extent possible without jeopardizing the intended end use or detracting from the overall quality delivered to the end user.

The following is a list of information technology products for which ENERGY STAR, FEMP designated, low standby power, and EPEAT registered products are available:

1. Computer Desktops, Laptops, Notebooks, Displays, Monitors, Integrated Desktop Computers, Workstation Desktops, Thin Clients, Disk Drives

2. Imaging Equipment (Printers, Copiers, Multi-Function Devices, Scanners, Fax Machines, Digital Duplicators, Mailing Machines)

3. Televisions, Multimedia Projectors

This list is continually evolving, and as a result is not all-inclusive.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

VA TECHNICAL REFERENCE MODEL

All hardware provided in response to this PD shall be listed on the VA Technical Reference Model (TRM). The Contractor shall support the VA enterprise management framework. In association with the framework, the Contractor shall comply with OI&T Technical Reference Model. The VA TRM is one component within the overall Enterprise Architecture (EA) that establishes a common vocabulary and structure for describing the information technology used to develop, operate, and maintain enterprise applications. Moreover, the VA TRM, which includes the Standards Profile and Product List, serves as a technology roadmap and tool for supporting OI&T. Architecture & Engineering Services (AES) has overall responsibility for the VA TRM.

POSITION/TASK RISK DESIGNATION LEVEL(S)

In accordance with VA Handbook 0710, Personnel Security and Suitability Program, the position sensitivity and the level of background investigation commensurate with the required level of access for the following tasks within the PD are:

Position Sensitivity and Background Investigation Requirements by Service Task/Item Number

The Tasks identified above, and the resulting Position Sensitivity and Background Investigation requirements identify, in effect, the Background Investigation requirements for Contractor individuals, based upon the tasks the particular Contractor individual will be working. The submitted Contractor Staff Roster must indicate the required Background Investigation Level for each Contractor individual based upon the tasks the Contractor individual will be working, in accordance with their submitted proposal.

INFORMATION SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS:

All VA sensitive information shall be protected at all times in accordance with local security field office System Security Plans (SSP’s) and Authority to Operate (ATO)’s for all systems/LAN’s accessed while performing the tasks detailed in this Product Description.

If any of the referenced documents have been updated the vendor will reference the most recently published version. If a document has been rescinded, the Contractor shall reference the publication replacing the rescinded document.

Note: Some terms and wording have changed since the publication of VA Handbook 6500.6 March 12, 2010.

VA Directive and VA Handbook (HB) 6500 have both been updated and published as of February 24th, 2021. A previous update to VA 6500 Directive January 19th, 2020 rescinded VA 6500.1 HB and the recent updated to 6500HB rescinded VA 6500.3 HB.

a. A prohibition on unauthorized disclosure: “Information made available to the Contractor or Subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the Contractor/Subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of the VA.” This clause expressly limits the Contractor/Subcontractor’s rights to use data as described in Rights in Data – General, FAR 52.227-14(d).(1).

b. A requirement for data breach notification: Upon discovery of any known or suspected security/privacy incidents, or any unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, including that contained in system(s) to which the Contractor/Subcontractor has access, the Contractor/Subcontractor shall immediately notify the COR and simultaneously, the designated ISO, and Privacy Officer for the contract. The term “security incident” means an event that has, or could have, resulted in unauthorized access to, loss or damage to VA assets, or sensitive information, or an action that breaches VA security procedures. See VA Handbook 6500.6, Appendix C, paragraph 6.a.

c. A requirement to pay liquidated damages in the event of a data breach: “In the event of a data breach or privacy incident involving SPI the contractor processes or maintains under this contract, the contractor shall be liable to VA for liquidated damages for a specified amount per affected individual to cover the cost of providing credit protection services to those individuals.” However, it is the policy of VA to forgo collection of liquidated damages in the event the Contractor provides payment of actual damages in an amount determined to be adequate by the agency.

Based on the determinations of the independent risk analysis, the Contractor shall be responsible for paying to VA liquidated damages in the amount of $37.50 per affected individual to cover the cost of providing credit protection services to affected individuals consisting of the following:

1) Notification;

2) One year of credit monitoring services consisting of automatic daily monitoring of at least 3 relevant credit bureau reports;

3) Data breach analysis;

4) Fraud resolution services, including writing dispute letters, initiating fraud alerts and credit freezes, to assist affected individuals to bring matters to resolution;

5) One year of identity theft insurance with $20,000.00 coverage at $0 deductible; and

6) Necessary legal expenses the subjects may incur to repair falsified or damaged credit records, histories, or financial affairs

d. A requirement for annual security/privacy awareness training: “Before being granted access to VA information or information systems, all Contractor employees and Subcontractor employees requiring such access shall complete on an annual basis either: (i) the VA security/privacy awareness training (contains VA security/privacy requirements) within 1 week of the initiation of the contract, or (ii) security awareness training provided or arranged by the contractor that conforms to VA’s security/privacy requirements as delineated in the hard copy of the VA security awareness training provided to the Contractor. If the Contractor provides their own training that conforms to VA’s requirements, they will provide the COR or CO, a yearly report (due annually on the date of the contract initiation) stating that all applicable employees involved in VA’s contract have received their annual security/privacy training that meets VA’s requirements and the total number of employees trained. See VA Handbook 6500.6, Appendix C, paragraph 9.

e. A requirement to sign VA’s Rules of Behavior: “Before being granted access to VA information or information systems, all Contractor employees and Subcontractor employees requiring such access shall sign on annual basis an acknowledgement that they have read, understand, and agree to abide by VA’s Contractor Rules of Behavior which is attached to this contract.” See VA Handbook 6500.6, Appendix C, paragraph 9, and Appendix D. Note: If a medical device vendor anticipates that the services under the contract will be performed by 10 or more individuals, the Contractor Rules of Behavior may be signed by the vendor’s designated representative. The contract must reflect by signing the Rules of Behavior on behalf of the vendor that the designated representative agrees to ensure that all such individuals review and understand the Contractor Rules of Behavior when accessing VA’s information and information systems.

ADDENDUM B – VA INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY/PRIVACY LANGUAGE

APPLICABLE PARAGRAPHS TAILORED FROM: THE VA INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY/PRIVACY LANGUAGE

GENERAL

Contractors, Contractor personnel, Subcontractors, and Subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks as VA and VA personnel regarding information and information system security.

ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS

a. A Contractor/Subcontractor shall request logical (technical) or physical access to VA information and VA information systems for their employees, Subcontractors, and affiliates only to the extent necessary to perform the services specified in the contract, agreement, or task order.

b. All Contractors, Subcontractors, and third-party servicers and associates working with VA information are subject to the same investigative requirements as those of VA appointees or employees who have access to the same types of information. The level and process of background security investigations for Contractors must be in accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 0710, Personnel Suitability and Security Program. The Office for Operations, Security, and Preparedness is responsible for these policies and procedures.

c. Contract personnel who require access to national security programs must have a valid security clearance. National Industrial Security Program (NISP) was established by Executive Order 12829 to ensure that cleared U.S. defense industry contract personnel safeguard the classified information in their possession while performing work on contracts, programs, bids, or research and development efforts. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a Memorandum of Agreement with Defense Security Service (DSS). Verification of a Security Clearance must be processed through the Special Security Officer located in the Planning and National Security Service within the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness.

d. Custom software development and outsourced operations must be located in the U.S. to the maximum extent practical. If such services are proposed to be performed abroad and are not disallowed by other VA policy or mandates (e.g. Business Associate Agreement, Section 3G), the Contractor/Subcontractor must state where all non-U.S. services are provided and detail a security plan, deemed to be acceptable by VA, specifically to address mitigation of the resulting problems of communication, control, data protection, and so forth. Location within the U.S. may be an evaluation factor.

e. The Contractor or Subcontractor must notify the CO immediately when an employee working on a VA system or with access to VA information is reassigned or leaves the Contractor or Subcontractor’s employ. The CO must also be notified immediately by the Contractor or Subcontractor prior to an unfriendly termination.

VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE

1. Information made available to the Contractor or Subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the Contractor/Subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of VA. This clause expressly limits the Contractor/Subcontractor's rights to use data as described in Rights in Data - General, FAR 52.227-14(d) (1).

2. VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the Contractors/Subcontractor’s information systems or media storage systems in order to ensure VA requirements related to data protection and media sanitization can be met. If co-mingling must be allowed to meet the requirements of the business need, the Contractor must ensure that VA information is returned to VA or destroyed in accordance with VA’s sanitization requirements. VA reserves the right to conduct onsite inspections of Contractor and Subcontractor IT resources to ensure data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures are in compliance with VA directive requirements.

3. Prior to termination or completion of this contract, Contractor/Subcontractor must not destroy information received from VA, or gathered/created by the Contractor in the course of performing this contract without prior written approval by VA. Any data destruction done on behalf of VA by a Contractor/Subcontractor must be done in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, applicable VA Records Control Schedules, and VA Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization. Self-certification by the Contractor that the data destruction requirements above have been met must be sent to the VA CO within 30 days of termination of the contract.

4. The Contractor/Subcontractor must receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of the contract and applicable Federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. If Federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS or Special Publications (SP) after execution of this contract, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies in this contract.

5. The Contractor/Subcontractor shall not make copies of VA information except as authorized and necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on Contractor/Subcontractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the Contractor/Subcontractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If copies are made for restoration purposes, after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed.

6. If VA determines that the Contractor has violated any of the information confidentiality, privacy, and security provisions of the contract, it shall be sufficient grounds for VA to withhold payment to the Contractor or third party or terminate the contract for default or terminate for cause under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12.

7. If a VHA contract is terminated for cause, the associated Business Associate Agreement (BAA) must also be terminated and appropriate actions taken in accordance with VHA Handbook 1600.05, Business Associate Agreements. Absent an agreement to use or disclose protected health information, there is no business associate relationship.

8. The Contractor/Subcontractor must store, transport, or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated.

9. The Contractor/Subcontractor’s firewall and Web services security controls, if applicable, shall meet or exceed VA minimum requirements. VA Configuration Guidelines are available upon request.

10. Except for uses and disclosures of VA information authorized by this contract for performance of the contract, the Contractor/Subcontractor may use and disclose VA information only in two other situations: (i) in response to a qualifying order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (ii) with VA prior written approval. The Contractor/Subcontractor must refer all requests for, demands for production of, or inquiries about, VA information and information systems to the VA CO for response.

11. Notwithstanding the provision above, the Contractor/Subcontractor shall not release VA records protected by Title 38 U.S.C. 5705, confidentiality of medical quality assurance records and/or Title 38 U.S.C. 7332, confidentiality of certain health records pertaining to drug addiction, sickle cell anemia, alcoholism or alcohol abuse, or infection with human immunodeficiency virus. If the Contractor/Subcontractor is in receipt of a court order or other requests for the above-mentioned information, that Contractor/Subcontractor shall immediately refer such court orders or other requests to the VA CO for response.

12. For service that involves the storage, generating, transmitting, or exchanging of VA sensitive information but does not require Assessment and Authorization (A&A) or a Memorandum of Understanding-Interconnection Security Agreement (MOU-ISA) for system interconnection, the Contractor/Subcontractor must complete a Contractor Security Control Assessment (CSCA) on a yearly basis and provide it to the COR.

INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Information systems that are designed or developed for or on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities shall comply with all VA directives developed in accordance with FISMA, HIPAA, NIST, and related VA security and privacy control requirements for Federal information systems. This includes standards for the protection of electronic PHI, outlined in 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart C, information and system security categorization level designations in accordance with FIPS 199 and FIPS 200 with implementation of all baseline security controls commensurate with the FIPS 199 system security categorization (reference VA Handbook 6500, Risk Management Framework for VA Information Systems – Tier 3: VA Information Security Program, and the TIC Reference Architecture). During the development cycle a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) must be completed, provided to the COR, and approved by the VA Privacy Service in accordance with Directive 6508, Implementation of Privacy Threshold Analysis and Privacy Impact Assessment.

2. The Contractor/Subcontractor shall certify to the COR that applications are fully functional and operate correctly as intended on systems using the VA Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC), and the common security configuration guidelines provided by NIST or VA. This includes Internet Explorer 11 configured to operate on Windows 7 and future versions, as required.

3. The standard installation, operation, maintenance, updating, and patching of software shall not alter the configuration settings from the VA approved and FDCC configuration. Information technology staff must also use the Windows Installer Service for installation to the default “program files” directory and silently install and uninstall.

4. Applications designed for normal end users shall run in the standard user context without elevated system administration privileges.

5. The security controls must be designed, developed, approved by VA, and implemented in accordance with the provisions of VA security system development life cycle as outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-37, Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems, VA Handbook 6500, Risk Management Framework for VA Information Systems – Tier 3: VA Information Security Program and VA Handbook 6500.5, Incorporating Security and Privacy in System Development Lifecycle.

6. The Contractor/Subcontractor is required to design, develop, or operate a System of Records Notice (SOR) on individuals to accomplish an agency function subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (as amended), Public Law 93-579, December 31, 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and applicable agency regulations. Violation of the Privacy Act may involve the imposition of criminal and civil penalties.

7. The Contractor/Subcontractor agrees to:

a. Comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 (the Act) and the agency rules and regulations issued under the Act in the design, development, or operation of any system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function when the contract specifically identifies:

i. The Systems of Records (SOR); and

ii. The design, development, or operation work that the Contractor/Subcontractor is to perform;

b. Include the Privacy Act notification contained in this contract in every solicitation and resulting subcontract and in every subcontract awarded without a solicitation, when the work statement in the proposed subcontract requires the redesign, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals that is subject to the Privacy Act; and

c. Include this Privacy Act clause, including this subparagraph (c), in all subcontracts awarded under this contract which requires the design, development, or operation of such a SOR.

8. In the event of violations of the Act, a civil action may be brought against the agency involved when the violation concerns the design, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function, and criminal penalties may be imposed upon the officers or employees of the agency when the violation concerns the operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function. For purposes of the Act, when the contract is for the operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function, the Contractor/Subcontractor is considered to be an employee of the agency.

a. “Operation of a System of Records” means performance of any of the activities associated with maintaining the SOR, including the collection, use, maintenance, and dissemination of records.

b. “Record” means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and contains the person’s name, or identifying number, symbol, or any other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a fingerprint or voiceprint, or a photograph.

c. “System of Records” means a group of any records under the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.

9. The vendor shall ensure the security of all procured or developed systems and technologies, including their subcomponents (hereinafter referred to as “Systems”), throughout the life of this contract and any extension, warranty, or maintenance periods. This includes, but is not limited to workarounds, patches, hot fixes, upgrades, and any physical components (hereafter referred to as Security Fixes) which may be necessary to fix all security vulnerabilities published or known to the vendor anywhere in the Systems, including Operating Systems and firmware. The vendor shall ensure that Security Fixes shall not negatively impact the Systems.

10. The vendor shall notify VA within 24 hours of the discovery or disclosure of successful exploits of the vulnerability which can compromise the security of the Systems (including the confidentiality or integrity of its data and operations, or the availability of the system). Such issues shall be remediated as quickly as is practical, based upon severity of the incident.

11. When the Security Fixes involve installing third party patches (such as Microsoft OS patches or Adobe Acrobat), the vendor will provide written notice to VA that the patch has been validated as not affecting the Systems within 10 working days. When the vendor is responsible for operations or maintenance of the Systems, they shall apply the Security Fixes based upon the requirements identified within the contract.

12. All other vulnerabilities shall be remediated as specified in this paragraph in a timely manner based on risk, but within 60 days of discovery or disclosure. Exceptions to this paragraph (e.g., for the convenience of VA) shall only be granted with approval of the CO and the VA Assistant Secretary for Office of Information and Technology.

INFORMATION SYSTEM HOSTING, OPERATION, MAINTENANCE, OR USE

a. For information systems that are hosted, operated, maintained, or used on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities, Contractors/Subcontractors are fully responsible and accountable for ensuring compliance with all HIPAA, Privacy Act, FISMA, NIST, FIPS, and VA security and privacy directives and handbooks. This includes conducting compliant risk assessments, routine vulnerability scanning, system patching and change management procedures, and the completion of an acceptable contingency plan for each system. The Contractor’s security control procedures must be equivalent, to those procedures used to secure VA systems. A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) must also be provided to the COR and approved by VA Privacy Service prior to operational approval. All external Internet connections to VA network involving VA information must be in accordance with the TIC Reference Architecture and reviewed and approved by VA prior to implementation. For Cloud Services hosting, the Contractor shall also ensure compliance with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).

b. Adequate security controls for collecting, processing, transmitting, and storing of Personally Identifiable Information (PII), as determined by the VA Privacy Service, must be in place, tested, and approved by VA prior to hosting, operation, maintenance, or use of the information system, or systems by or on behalf of VA. These security controls are to be assessed and stated within the PIA and if these controls are determined not to be in place, or inadequate, a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) must be submitted and approved prior to the collection of PII.

c. Outsourcing (Contractor facility, Contractor equipment or Contractor staff) of systems or network operations, telecommunications services, or other managed services requires A&A of the Contractor’s systems in accordance with VA Handbook 6500.3, Assessment, Authorization and Continuous Monitoring of VA Information Systems and/or the VA OCS Certification Program Office. Government-owned (Government facility or Government equipment) Contractor-operated systems, third party or business partner networks require memorandums of understanding and interconnection security agreements (MOU-ISA) which detail what data types are shared, who has access, and the appropriate level of security controls for all systems connected to VA networks.

d. The Contractor/Subcontractor’s system must adhere to all FISMA, FIPS, and NIST standards related to the annual FISMA security controls assessment and review and update the PIA. Any deficiencies noted during this assessment must be provided to the VA CO and the ISO for entry into the VA POA&M management process. The Contractor/Subcontractor must use the VA POA&M process to document planned remedial actions to address any deficiencies in information security policies, procedures, and practices, and the completion of those activities. Security deficiencies must be corrected within the timeframes approved by the Government. Contractor/Subcontractor procedures are subject to periodic, unannounced assessments by VA officials, including the VA Office of Inspector General.