WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is considering extending a “secure pipeline” to small businesses to help them protect the department’s controlled unclassified information (CUI) while also speeding up their software deliveries, according to an official in the DoD Chief Information Office (CIO).

“One of the challenges we’re finding dealing with the smaller industries and others that haven’t worked in the defense space is our adversaries will attack our weakest links, and if folks aren’t ready for nation-state advanced persistent threat attacks, our sensitive information can be compromised,” Robert Vietmeyer, director for cloud and software modernization, said at a virtual Potomac Officers Club event today.

To that point, the DoD CIO is working with the deputy under secretary of defense and the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment “make investments” to help small businesses in the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 program, which aims to strengthen the cybersecurity of the defense industrial base by holding contractors accountable for following best practices to protect their network.

“I’d like to see us expand beyond just the protection, but how do we give a development pipeline, a software factory capability that can enable the small business not just to safeguard DoD CUI but actually give them… a secure pipeline that would enable them to accelerate their potential delivery into the DoD environment as well as protecting that...

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