USDA Selects Xacta to Address Certification and Accreditation and FISMA Requirements

Business Wire, Oct 26, 2004

ASHBURN, Va. -- USDA Awards Two New Contracts to Telos, Xacta's Parent Company, for Xacta C&A Support to Its Forest Service Division and the National Agricultural Statistics Service

Xacta(R) Corporation today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded two contracts to Telos(R) Corporation, its parent company, to satisfy security certification and accreditation (C&A) requirements for USDA's Forest Service Division and the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Xacta, a leading supplier of government-validated secure enterprise solutions, will provide the software and services that Telos will employ for USDA. Telos is the exclusive provider of Xacta's government-validated secure enterprise solutions to the federal government. These solutions include Xacta IA Manager(TM), which enables government agencies to automatically discover their IT assets, continuously assess security risks, and provide the C&A processes and documentation needed to satisfy congressional, agency, and departmental security compliance requirements, including Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) guidance.

In October 2003, the USDA signed 11 blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) with companies for a combined potential value of as much as $60 million over the next five years. The goal of the BPAs is to ensure that USDA systems are certified and accredited in compliance with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and USDA guidance and standards. The contracts announced today represent the fifth and sixth task orders the USDA has signed with Telos for C&A-related work.

The General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Technology Services contracted Telos to employ Xacta IA Manager and provide Xacta's technical security services to complete the C&A process for USDA Forest Service (FS) general support systems and ten major applications that include the Automated Timber Sale Accounting System, the Fire Application General Support System, and the Fire Program Analysis System. Xacta will perform this effort in the Washington, D.C. area and in six other states. The mission of the USDA FS is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations.

Telos was awarded a contract by GSA to perform C&A pre-certification work for the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). The mission of USDA NASS is to provide timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. Under this contract, Xacta will perform C&A services on USDA NASS' Estimation System, Publication System, Telecommunications System, National Survey Mainframe System, Market Sensitive Survey System, and the NASS Local Area Network. The majority of work for this effort will be performed by Xacta security consultants in the Washington D.C. area, with additional support at sites located in Maryland, Virginia, and Missouri.

"Using Xacta solutions and services, USDA will be able to meet the numerous C&A and FISMA reporting processes required to satisfy its security compliance requirements," said Richard P. Tracy, chief security officer for Telos and Xacta. "We will help USDA locate IT security weaknesses, recommend remediation steps, and provide the required C&A processes and paperwork to document its security risk posture. USDA will be able to not only improve upon its strong record in security, but also streamline the documentation process which was previously both paper-intensive and time consuming."

To enhance C&A documentation, Xacta IA Manager will be used to help USDA FS and USDA NASS automatically create consistent plans of actions and milestone (POA&M) reports that accelerate the ability to manage the remediation process and boost IT security performance measures, specifically with FISMA reporting.

About Xacta

Xacta Corporation, a Telos company, develops, markets, and sells government-validated secure enterprise solutions to federal, state and local agencies, as well as to commercial customers. Xacta's offerings include enterprise IT security management solutions, enterprise security consulting services, enterprise messaging, secure wireless networking, and high assurance credentialing solutions. Its solutions are represented to the federal government on Telos' GSA schedule. For more information, visit www.xacta.com.

About Telos

Telos Corporation has provided innovative IT solutions to the federal government for more than 30 years. The company provides systems integration and value added reseller solutions to U.S. government customers. Telos and Xacta Corporation, its subsidiary for security solutions, have been ensuring that the government's most demanding and security-conscious organizations comply with existing and emerging information security mandates since 1989. For more information, visit www.telos.com.

"Xacta IA Manager" is a trademark, and "Xacta" is a registered trademark, of Xacta Corporation. "Telos" is a registered trademark of Telos Corporation. All other product, service, and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.