Facing expanding mandates for information security at the two big nuclear-weapon production sites it manages, Consolidated Nuclear Security has launched a hiring spree for qualified information technology and cybersecurity experts.
Over the past several years, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) has found it difficult to meet its cybersecurity and IT staffing needs with its internal employee base alone, according to a procurement note published Tuesday.
To fill the vacancies and address its shortfalls, CNS put out a call for cybersecurity officials on the federal government’s contracting website, SAM, saying it was in the market to hire qualified remote employees on one-year contracts with four option years.
CNS has battled “higher than normal scope expansion” that requires a ramp up in “information solutions and services” professionals working in operations and maintenance, development, modernization and enhancements at both the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that the company manages for National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Management shortcomings including in cybersecurity nearly cost CNS its contract in 2021, when the NNSA decided to put the combined management contacts for Pantex and Y-12 up for bid.
The agency’s effort to replace CNS fell through a year later, when an alleged conflict of interest involving a former NNSA cybersecurity official prompted the agency to cancel a planned follow-on award for the sites amid an industry outcry and instead extend CNS.
The company is in the process of beefing up its information technology infrastructure and “Cybersecurity Program” at both sites “with a focus on security,” according to the procurement note published Tuesday.
That will consist of hiring a host of new employees working in the “day-to-day management …of help desks, operational centers, telecommunications centers, information security and end-user support services,” according to the note.
The company also plans to implement new information systems and alter existing systems to “substantively improve capability or performance” and implement anticipated new cybersecurity requirements handed down by Congress and agency leadership, the note said.
CNS plans to award service contracts to a pool of qualified subject matter experts with “demonstrated capabilities of providing qualified resources quickly,” according to the procurement note. Those interested in providing services should reply to the company’s expression of interest by March 15.
