In an exclusive interview in Contract Management Magazine, Sonny Hashmi also outlines how GSA tracks parts in “Made in America” products to other countries and details joint project to ‘handhold’ innovative companies to first contracts.
Contract Management is a benefit offered exclusively to members of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), however, NCMA is making the Hashmi interview in the September issue available publicly. Press can access it at: https://www.ncmahq.org/Shared_Content/CM-Magazine/CM-Magazine-September-2022/The-Challenge-of-the-Decade--An-Interview-with-Sonny-Hashmi.aspx
The Defense Department’s Cyber Security Maturity Model Certification wouldn’t work for the thousands of companies holding GSA Schedule contracts, FAS Commissioner Sonny Hashmi told Contract Management in an exclusive interview for the September issue. “You cannot possibly go through that level of documentation, scrutiny, review, personnel oversight, for every single thing in the GSA catalog,” Hashmi told Contract Management Editor in Chief Anne Laurent. “So, we need a different model that scales better for a vast majority of software suppliers in government,” he continued.
Hashmi’s comments come amid continued changes and uncertainty regarding application of CMMC to defense contractors, which have complained it is too onerous, and are concerned about extension of the model governmentwide. The Homeland Security Department recently said it was considering a contractor self-assessment program because CMMC is disadvantageous to small companies.
Hashmi called tracking the provenance of goods and services in the federal supply chain “the challenge of the decade.” He explained how GSA segments supplies to identify cybersecurity concerns and uses third-party data to source chipsets, raw materials, subassemblies, and parts of goods. The process helped GSA remove tens of thousands of products from the schedules, in many cases because their makers had mis-certified them as made in America. Some large companies knowingly or unknowingly misrepresented their products, he said.
Hashmi also described how GSA is working with the Defense Innovation Unit to “white-glove handhold’ emerging tech companies with Small Business Innovation Research awards into the Schedules and onto first contracts.
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