SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background: The NCCoE, part of NIST, is a public-private collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption of secure technologies. The NCCoE brings together experts from industry, government, and academia to develop practical, interoperable cybersecurity and privacy approaches that address the real-world needs of complex Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) systems.

NCCoE projects are selected based on their alignment with NIST and government and industry priorities. For example:

• National Priorities: The challenge addresses a nationwide cybersecurity challenge.
• NIST Mission and Available Resources: The work builds on NIST standards and technology expertise in areas such as cryptography, identity, risk management, privacy, trustworthy systems, and more.
• NCCoE Mission Alignment: The work addresses a real-world challenge using commercial technology.
• Industry Signals: The topic is consistently identified by industry participants as a priority.

NCCoE's project portfolio ( www.nccoe.nist.gov/​portfolio) evolves in response to emerging cybersecurity challenges, national priorities, and stakeholder input. As new projects are initiated, they will be posted on SAM.gov and the NCCoE website ( www.nccoe.nist.gov), without issuing an additional Federal Register Notice.

Process: NIST is soliciting responses from all sources of relevant technical capabilities (see below) to enter into a CRADA to provide technical expertise, technology products, and other capabilities as necessary to build and demonstrate integrated approaches in support of NCCoE's projects and activities, as described in the previous section.

Interested parties can submit a letter of interest to participate in NCCoE projects by visiting the NCCoE website ( www.nccoe.nist.gov), and then navigating to www.nccoe.nist.gov/​CRADA and completing the letter of interest webform; alternatively, parties can provide the information detailed in LETTER OF INTEREST, below, and send via email or hardcopy (for reference, see ADDRESSES section above). NIST will contact interested parties if there are questions regarding the responsiveness of the letters of interest to the project objective or requirements identified below. NIST evaluates complete letters of interest on a first-come, first-served basis and determines technical acceptability based on fit within the project's scope and satisfaction with the project's technical requirements. Selected participants will be required to enter into a CRADA with NIST. At NIST's discretion, entities that are not legally permitted to enter into CRADAs may be allowed to participate pursuant to separate non-CRADA agreements.

Objective of NCCoE Projects: NCCoE projects demonstrate integrated cybersecurity solutions using ( printed page 72854) commercially available technologies. Collaborators contribute products, technical expertise, and implementation expertise that enable NIST to build and evaluate reference architectures addressing real-world technology transition challenges. This will help enable projects that are aligned with U.S. industry and government needs, promote secure-by-design technologies and applications, and ensure that the U.S. Government is at the forefront of managing national security risks in technology environments. NCCoE's work is open and transparent, and it invites interested parties to provide insights into emerging cybersecurity challenges and solutions, and to accelerate the adoption of cybersecurity processes and tools.

Building upon its long track record of working with the private and public sectors and its history of reliable and practical measurement and standards-oriented solutions, NCCoE seeks research collaborators who can support this vital undertaking. Specifically, NCCoE looks to:

• Create a convening space for collaborators to engage in dialogue and strive for open and transparent collaborations.
• Bring together stakeholders from industry and academia to work collaboratively to build and mature cybersecurity processes and tools for IT systems.
• Demonstrate the ability to secure IT systems using commercially available technologies.

Participation in NCCoE projects provides organizations with the opportunity to collaborate directly with NIST and other industry leaders to address significant cybersecurity challenges. Collaborators contribute technologies and expertise to build integrated reference architectures that demonstrate practical implementations of standards, best practices, and commercially available technologies. These demonstrations inform NIST guidance and help accelerate the adoption of secure technologies across government and industry.

NCCoE projects and activities are subject to change based upon current NCCoE, NIST, and U.S. Government priorities and as advances in the technical state of the art open new avenues for scientific inquiry and collaboration. These changes may result in the addition or removal of measurement science, technologies, and support areas listed above.

Requirements for Letters of Interest: Interested Parties must use NCCoE's Letter of Interest form (OMB Control No. 0693-0075) to submit their interest in participating in NCCoE projects. A sample of the current version of the form is available at www.nccoe.nist.gov/​get-involved/​collaborate-us-technical-contributions. Each NCCoE project announcement will contain specific instructions on how to request and submit a letter of interest for that project.

A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with an information collection subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 unless the information collection has a currently valid OMB Control Number. The approved OMB Control Number for this information collection is 0693-0075. Without this approval, NCCoE could not conduct this information collection. Public reporting for this information collection is estimated to be approximately 2 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the information collection. All responses to this information collection are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this information collection, including suggestions for reducing this burden to NCCoE using the information in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section above.

Letters of interest should not include proprietary information. NIST will not treat any information provided in response to this notice as proprietary information.

NIST cannot guarantee that all submissions will be utilized or that the products proposed by respondents will be used in NCCoE's activities. Each prospective participant will be expected to work collaboratively with NIST staff and other project participants under the terms of the NCCoE project agreement.

Additional details about the NCCoE's project portfolio are available at: www.nccoe.nist.gov/​portfolio

For additional information on the NCCoE governance, business processes, and NCCoE operational structure, visit the NCCoE website nccoe.nist.gov/​.

(Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3710a, 15 U.S.C. 278h-1, and 15 U.S.C. 272b and 272c)

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