US Air Force to make award to Trusted Systems for SIPRGuard

The U.S. Air Force 6th Contracting Squadron (6 CONS) at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, issued a justification for a single source award to be made to Finksburg, Maryland-based Trusted Systems for its biometric-enabled SIPRGuard “all-in-one integrated connection to SIPRNet.”

The dollar amount of the award, plus options, is redacted in the official document that was made available.

SIPRGuard is an endpoint physical protection for SIPRNet biometric desktop access controls. SIPRNet is the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, which is a classified system of interconnected computer networks used by the Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies to transmit classified information up to and including the Secret level by packet switching over TCP/IP protocols in a “completely secure” environment.

“Only one source is capable of responding due to the unique or specialized nature of the work,” the 6 CONS award intention notice said, pointing out that in 2023, Trusted Systems had installed two identical secure systems “to the one requested” at the 927th Air Refueling Wing – a combat coded Air Reserve wing of the U.S. Air Force.

The notice said that by “upgrading existing systems,” the Air Force “will mitigate [the] excessive costs of installing all new systems throughout, thus compatibility with existing systems with proprietary technology is required.”

The notice explained that “market research for similar systems that meet” 6 CONS’ “stringent requirements indicated” that Reston, Virginia-based Leidos; Beavercreek, Ohio-based Azimuth Corp;, Fairport, New York-based Bosch Security; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls “all have systems that are comparable in nature,” but because of “the limitations of working with existing systems already in use, opening up competition to any other vendor would significantly increase costs by requiring all new systems throughout.”

6 CONS said “existing systems are Trusted Systems’ SIPRGuard … therefore only Trusted Systems is authorized to upgrade and update the existing setups to bring them into compliance with new requirement needs.”

“Due to the nature of the computer system and the furniture required to house the system, availability of sources for this service is severely limited,” 6 CONS said. “Additionally, the installation of the system requires specifically licensed/security clearances and specialty trained capabilities. The installation technician is required to install and handle cryptographic devices per DOD requirements and must verify functionality upon completion.”

The system that 6 CONS will purchase also has a requirement for maintenance for a three-year period which limits the availability of vendors. The maintenance that is required “must include” the biometric controller, computer module, and all hardware systems.

SIPRGuard streamlines network access from the desktop without compromising security, convenience or performance.

SIPRGuard uses two-factor authentication to connect the desktop keyboard video mount and Ethernet devices to the network equipment that is mounted inside a Trusted Systems Information Processing System Container. This authentication precedes and is in addition to the normal SIPR token login without the need to open the IPS Container.

SIPRGuard consists of three modules: the Desktop Module, Control Module, and Gateway Module, the latter two of which are secured inside the IPS Container.

The 6 CONS notice noted that “as technology advances over time, the government will make every effort to expand competition to other sources should new systems be required in the future,” adding that its “market research will be continuously conducted to evaluate any and all requirements and their opportunities for expanded competition.”

Last week, Biometric Update reported that U.S. Air Force 5^th Contracting Squadron also issued a justification for soliciting a SIPRNet access solution from Trusted Systems.

Article Topics

access control  |  biometrics  |  Department of Defense  |  government purchasing  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  SIPRNet  |  Trusted Systems  |  U.S. Air Force