The NSA quietly granted a tech company a $2.4 billion contract last week in part of a larger series of deals with IT service firms, according to Nextgov.
The NSA, or the larger Department of Defense, have apparently made very little effort, if any, to announce the expensive agreement, and the tech company CSRA disclosed the partnership within a very brief Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Under the NSA’s Groundbreaker program, the federal agency is set to make a total of three business arrangements with firms in order to develop and establish a private cloud computing network, among other virtual systems, according to Washington Business Journal. Particulars of Groundbreaker are limited, perhaps unsurprisingly given the nature of the NSA.
The SEC filing, for example, is one of the few recent tidbits of information related to the program. The CSRA is hoping to get all three contracts, Nextgov reports, which are anticipated to be finalized later in the year. (RELATED: One Of The Most Secretive Agencies Is Now Sharing Some Of Its Tech With The Public)
Blackberry, the once go-to mobile device company, reached an agreement with the NSA in July to sell the agency and other organizations secret communication tools.
The Canadian-based smartphone manufacturer says it will purvey technological platforms like end-to-end encryption for for text messages and voice calls. (RELATED: NSA To Sponsor A Summer Camp For Teen Girls)
It received the green light from the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), an initiative of the NSA that aims to enhance the cybersecurity capacity of consumers both within and outside of the government. There seems to be a widespread need for improved IT, a demand that Blackberry and CSRA are trying to capitalize on.
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