SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In the Federal Register of January 5, 2026, in FR Doc. 2025-24248, on page 255, this supplemental notice adds an ADDRESSES caption to include public comment instructions.

Title and OMB Number: Safeguarding Covered Defense Information, Cyber Incident Reporting, and Cloud Computing; OMB Control Number 0704-0478.

Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit and not-for-profit institutions.

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain or retain benefits.

Reporting Frequency: On occasion.

Number of Respondents: 1,971.

Responses per Respondent: 8.2, approximately.

Annual Responses: 16,223.

Average Burden per Response: 0.42 hours.

Annual Burden Hours: 6,770.

Needs and Uses: Offerors and contractors must report cyber incidents on unclassified networks or information systems, within cloud computing services, and when they affect contractors designated as providing operationally critical support, as required by statute.

a. The clause at DFARS 252.204-7012, Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting, covers cyber incident reporting requirements for incidents that affect a covered contractor information system or the covered defense information residing therein, or that affects the contractor's ability to perform the requirements of the contract that are designated as operationally critical support and identified in the contract.

b. The provision at DFARS 252.204-7008, Compliance with Safeguarding Covered Defense Information Controls, requires an offeror that proposes to vary from any of the security controls of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-171 in effect at the time the solicitation is issued to submit to the contracting officer a written explanation of how the specified security control is not applicable or an alternative control or protective measure is used to achieve equivalent protection.

c. The provision at DFARS 252.239-7009, Representation of Use of Cloud Computing, requires offerors to report that they “anticipate” or “do not anticipate” utilizing cloud computing service in performance of a contract resulting from a solicitation containing the provision. The representation will notify contracting officers of the applicability of the cloud computing requirements of the DFARS 252.239-7010 clause of the contract.

d. The clause at DFARS 252.239-7010, Cloud Computing Services, requires reporting of cyber incidents that occur when DoD is purchasing cloud computing services.

These DFARS provisions and clauses facilitate mandatory cyber incident reporting requirements in accordance with statutory regulations. When reports are submitted, DoD will analyze the reported information for cyber threats and vulnerabilities in order to develop response measures as well as improve U.S. Government understanding of advanced cyber threat activity. In addition, the security requirements in NIST SP 800-171 are specifically tailored for use in protecting sensitive information residing in contractor information systems and generally reduce the burden placed on contractors by eliminating Federal-centric processes and requirements. The information provided will inform DoD in assessing the overall risk to DoD covered defense information on unclassified contractor systems and networks.

DoD Clearance Officer: Mr. Reginald T. Lucas. Requests for copies of the information collection proposal should be sent to Mr. Lucas at whs.mc-alex.esd.mbx.dd-dod-information-collections@mail.mil.

91 FR 1511