Robert Costello, chief information officer at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said CISA’s component acquisition executive is set to receive its initial procurement authority in early July and that the agency will operate with its own contract specialists, Federal News Network reported Monday.
“There’s a lot of work to do internally just on our own identity and culture,” Costello said. “Now we’re a component of equal rank to [the Transportation Security Administration] or CBP, so we’re developing our own culture here as well.”
According to CISA’s website, David Patrick, the agency’s chief acquisition executive, oversees the realignment of CISA’s procurement and acquisition initiatives and the transformation of the office of chief acquisition executive.
Budget documents indicate that CISA is seeking $6.2 million in funds for fiscal year 2023 to hire 50 personnel to form a procurement team within the office of the chief acquisition executive.
The new team will work with other CISA programs and divisions to help streamline procurement planning and implementation and identify and use existing contractual methodologies to meet the needs of end users, according to justification documents.
