The U.S. Air Force said it is looking for a cloud-based system to manage high security flights for top officials after identifying “significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities” in their current system.
The sources-sought notice posted on SAM.gov on Aug. 5 says that the Air Force’s AF/A3M office – which “specializes” in coordinating, overseeing, and validating “Very Important Person Special Air Missions” – is looking for a system that will “guarantee the secure handling of data” and meet Department of Defense (DoD) cybersecurity standards.
The current system does not meet cybersecurity standards set by the DoD and Air Force, according to the notice, and is “categorically inadequate” for Impact Level 4 (IL4) security.
The Aug. 5 notice follows other agency directives calling on AF/A3M to adopt more secure systems. The Air Force said that the new system should mark “a significant step in enhancing the security and efficiency of DoD executive airlift operations.”
The Air Force said that the system must be able to handle management of 66 active DoD aircraft and 20,000 hours in-flight yearly. It also must be able to oversee an extra 70 DoD aircraft if needed and “utilize a forecasting scheduling tool.”
Additional requirements set by the notice include sustaining around 515 active accounts annually and around 15 active accounts with command-and-control oversight.
Though cybersecurity is the top priority of the new system, the Executive Airlift Management System (EAMS) should support contact information, store data, and support scheduling requests and mission operations. The system’s vendor doesn’t need to act as a scheduling agent.
The contract is set for a 12-month period, with the option of four additional one-year periods.
