- CISA has unveiled plans for a follow-on cybersecurity operations support contract
- The labor-hour award is expected during the second quarter of fiscal year 2027
- The 2026 Homeland Security Summit will spotlight AI, edge capabilities and more
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency plans to compete a follow-on, labor-hour contract valued at more than $100 million for cybersecurity operations support services, or COSS.
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What Is the Timeline for the Follow-On Cybersecurity Contract?
According to a notice published Wednesday on the Acquisition Planning Forecast System, CISA described the anticipated procurement as a follow-on to the agency’s current COSS contract, for which Leidos is the incumbent.
The agency expects to release the solicitation by Oct. 31, and anticipates awarding the follow-on contract during the second quarter of fiscal year 2027. The prospective contract would run through Jan. 26, 2032, if awarded as planned.
CISA will conduct the procurement as a competitive, labor-hour award under the General Services Administration’s Alliant 2 governmentwide acquisition contract, with performance expected in Arlington, Virginia.
What Services Will the Contract Cover?
Under the follow-on award, CISA will seek a contractor to monitor and protect its systems from unauthorized access, misconfiguration and disruption. The scope includes:
- Security operations center functions and vulnerability management
- Penetration testing and security engineering
- Cloud security and AI security
- Purple team exercises and electronic discovery support
The work will cover CISA’s Federal Information Security Modernization Act systems, spanning hybrid cloud environments, data centers, end-user support and network infrastructure. The contractor will also provide personnel, materials, equipment, facilities and travel needed to support the mission.
What Other DHS Cybersecurity & Acquisition Efforts Are Underway?
CISA has also signaled plans to compete a separate cyber operations contract supporting its threat hunting mission, covering incident response, cybersecurity engineering and security operations capabilities, even as DHS continues to advance its departmentwide cloud acquisition strategy with plans to award contracts to major cloud providers under its Cumulus initiative.
These efforts follow a recent DHS investigation into unauthorized activity affecting its Homeland Security Information Network, during which the department isolated the affected systems while conducting a forensic review. DHS has also outlined plans to compete a follow-on systems integrator blanket purchase agreement for its OneStream program, with award anticipated in the second quarter of FY 2027.
