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US 2026/0039682 A1Published application
Cyberhygiene Assessment Tool
AssigneeThe Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Homeland Security
InventorsAntonino Scimemi, Michael Magill
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for awarding a procurement contract to a vendor. The system may receive a plurality of offers and determine which offer to accept for the target based on a variety of factors. The system may determine and consider the data access level the vendor has or would need to have to fulfill the contract. The system may determine and consider the cyberhygiene of the vendor. The system may consider offer pricing, distribution capacity, service history, and other factors in selecting a vendor for the contract.
Claims20
A method executed by one or more data processing units (the DPUs) having access to one or more databases (the database) that interface with a network of computing devices for selecting procurement contract vendors (vendors) for one or more procuring entities (the procuring entities), comprising:
- storing in the one or more databases:
- a—identified data types used in procurement contracts;
- b—identified performance term and conditions (PTCs) correspondingly associated with identified PTC value;
- c—a plurality of identified data access levels associated with identified access criteria to the identified data types;
- d—identified access level assessment criteria of each identified data access level;
- a—a plurality of identified groups correspondingly associated with the identified data access levels,
- e—identified survey questions including 1) one or more data access level questions (the data access level questions) that assess whether vendors meet access criteria to the identified data types associated with the identified data access levels and 2) one or more defined cyberhygiene questions (the cyberhygiene questions) correspondingly associated with one or more specified cyber hygiene scores that measure the vendors' cyberhygiene practices (the cyber hygiene scores);
- using computing devices of the procuring entities to generate procurement contracts that specifying data types required to fulfill the corresponding procurement contracts and PTCs that define performance requirements;
- using the DPUs to associate the generated procurement contracts with corresponding IDs and the specified data types and PTCs in each procurement contract with correspondingly identified data types and PTCs in the databases;
- using the DPUs to identify received offers and vendors in the database for the identified procurement contracts in the database, wherein each identified offer for a corresponding procurement contract contains offered terms and conditions (OTCs) identified in the database to be associated with an identified PTC value of an identified PTC in the corresponding procurement contract;
- using the network of computing devices to convey the identified survey questions in the database to the identified vendors before receiving answers to the survey question at the data processing units;
- using the DPUs to associate the vendors with the identified groups, wherein the processing units associate each identified vendor with an identified group associated with an identified data access level when the processing units determine that the received answers to the identified data access level questions from the identified vendor meets the identified access level assessment criteria associated with the identified data access level of the identified group;
- using the DPUs to generate a cyberhygiene score for each identified vendor based on the vendor's answers to the identified cyberhygiene questions;
- using the DPUs to calculate an offer evaluation factor for each identified vendor in each identified group based on the identified PTC values associated with corresponding identified OTCs of each identified offer;
- using the DPUs to calculate a cyberhygiene evaluation factor for each identified vendor in an identified group based on the vendor's cyberhygiene score relative to the corresponding cyberhygiene scores of other identified vendors in the identified group;
- using the DPUs to calculate a final offer value for each identified vendor based on the cyberhygiene evaluation factor and the offer evaluation factor;
- and
- using the DPUs to select an identified offer of an identified vendor based on the vendor's final offer value.
15 more elements
A system for selecting procurement contract vendors (vendors) for one or more procuring entities (the procuring entities), comprising:
- one or more databases (the databases) that store:
- a—identified data types used in procurement contracts;
- b—identified performance term and conditions (PTCs) correspondingly associated with identified PTC value;
- c—a plurality of identified data access levels associated with identified access criteria to the identified data types;
- d—identified access level assessment criteria of each identified data access level
- b—a plurality of identified groups correspondingly associated with the identified data access levels,
- e—identified survey questions including 1) one or more data access level questions (the data access level questions) that assess whether vendors meet access criteria to the identified data types associated with the identified data access levels and 2) one or more defined cyberhygiene questions (the cyberhygiene questions) correspondingly associated with one or more specified cyber hygiene scores that measure the vendors' cyberhygiene practices (the cyber hygiene scores),
- one or more data processing units (the DPUs) having access to the databases that interface with a network of computing devices, wherein the computing devices are used by the procuring entities to generate procurement contracts that specify data types required to fulfill the corresponding procurement contracts and PTCs that define performance requirements, wherein the DPUs associate the generated procurement contracts with corresponding IDs and the specified data types and PTCs in each procurement contract with correspondingly identified data types and PTCs in the databases, wherein the DPUs to identify received offers and vendors for the identified procurement contracts from computing devices in the database, wherein each identified offer for a corresponding procurement contract contains offered terms and conditions (OTCs) identified in the database to be associated with an identified PTC value of an identified PTC in the corresponding procurement contract, wherein the DPUs receive answers to identified survey question in the database over the network of computing devices, wherein the DPUs comprise:
- a classification module that associates the identified vendors with the identified groups that are correspondingly associated identified data access levels after it is determined that the received answers to the identified data access level questions from the identified vendor meets the identified access level assessment criteria associated with the corresponding identified data access level;
- a cyberhygiene scoring module that calculates cyberhygiene scores for each identified vendor based on the vendor's answers to the identified cyberhygiene questions;
- an offer review module that calculates an offer evaluation factor for each identified vendor in each identified group based on the identified PTC values associated with corresponding identified OTCs of each identified offer;
- a vendor evaluation module that calculates a cyberhygiene evaluation factor for each identified vendor in an identified group based on the vendor's cyberhygiene score relative to the corresponding cyberhygiene scores of other identified vendors in the identified group;
- an offer valuation module that calculates a final offer value for each identified vendor based on the cyberhygiene evaluation factor and the offer evaluation factor;
- and
- a vendor selection module that selects an identified offer of an identified vendor based on the vendor's final offer value.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.