[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71233-71234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27089]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No. 120912441-2441-01]


National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; correction.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) invites interested U.S. 
companies to submit letters of interest in collaborating with NIST/ITL 
on an ongoing basis in the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence 
(NCCoE) through partnerships called ``National Cybersecurity Excellence 
Partnerships'' (NCEPs). NIST previously published a notice for this 
partnership on October 19, 2012. This notice repeats the same 
information contained in the previous notice but contains updated 
contact and mailing information.

DATES: Letters of interest will be accepted on an ongoing basis. 
However, if NIST determines that letters of interest will no longer be 
accepted, NIST will publish the last date when letters will be accepted 
in a Federal Register notice.

ADDRESSES: Interested U.S. companies should send letters via email to 
[email protected]; or via hardcopy to NCCoE, National Institute 
of Standards and Technology; 9700 Great Seneca Highway, Rockville, MD 
20850.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Natalia Martin via email at [email protected]; or via telephone at 301-975-0225. For additional 
information on NCCoE governance, business processes, and operational 
structure, visit the NCCoE website, at https://www.nccoe.nist.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NCCoE, hosted by NIST, is a public-
private collaboration for accelerating the widespread adoption of 
integrated cybersecurity tools and technologies. The NCCoE's mission is 
to bring together experts from industry, government, and academia under 
one roof to develop practical, interoperable cybersecurity approaches 
that address the real world needs of complex Information Technology 
(IT) systems. By accelerating dissemination and use of these integrated 
tools and technologies for protecting Information Technology (IT)) and 
Operational Technology (OT) assets to help organizations improve their 
cybersecurity in the context of their missions and business objectives, 
the NCCoE strives to cultivate trust in U.S. IT communications, data, 
and storage systems, lower risk for companies and individuals in the 
use of IT systems, and encourage development of innovative, job-
creating cybersecurity products and services.
    As part of the NCCoE initiative, NIST/ITL intends to enter into 
partnerships, called ``National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnerships'' 
(NCEPs), with U.S. companies to collaborate on an ongoing basis in the 
NCCoE. Collaboration agreements will be based upon the statutory 
technology transfer authorities available to NIST, including the 
Federal Technology Transfer Act, 15 U.S.C. 3710a. NIST/ITL intends that 
NCEP collaborators will co-locate with ITL at the NCCoE at 9700 Great 
Seneca Highway Rockville, MD 20850 and will contribute to the 
development of the intellectual and physical infrastructure needed to 
support collaborative efforts among NIST and many sources of security 
capabilities, including users and vendors of products and services, on 
holistic approaches to resolve cybersecurity challenges.
    Approaches to resolving cybersecurity challenges will be addressed 
at the NCCoE through individual projects; projects developed by NCCoE 
will incorporate the IT security needs of specific communities or 
sectors. Examples of candidate sectors include health care, finance and 
utilities. The cybersecurity challenges that will be the subject of the 
project will be selected by NIST through workshops with input from 
broad groups of stakeholders, as well as public feedback provided via 
collaborative internet participation. Collaborative participation may 
be accessed via links from http://nccoe.nist.gov/. Opportunities to 
participate in individual projects will be announced in the Federal 
Register and will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served 
basis. NIST/ITL envisions that the NCCoE will be capable of supporting 
multiple simultaneous applied cybersecurity projects in various stages. 
NCEP collaborators will neither be obligated to participate in a given 
project, nor will they be guaranteed participation in a given project, 
but they will be given priority for participation in each project only 
for their resources that are already onsite at the NCCoE and for 
components that are interoperable with those onsite resources, within 
the process defined for that project as announced in the Federal 
Register.
    NCEP collaborators selected to participate in a given project may 
contribute, but will not be required to contribute, resources in 
addition to those contributed through their NCEP agreement. However, 
priority participation in a project will be granted only for resources 
relevant to the projects that are already onsite in the NCCoE and 
components that are interoperable with those onsite resources. Through 
their collaboration agreements with NIST/ITL, NCEP collaborators will 
agree that resources contributed to the NCCoE initiative will be 
available to all project participants, as determined by NIST. Through 
individual project consortium agreements, all participants, including 
NIST, NCEP collaborators and others, will agree that successful 
solutions to a NCCoE project challenge will be thoroughly documented 
and shared publicly, in order to encourage the rapid adoption of 
comprehensive cybersecurity templates and approaches that support 
automated and trustworthy e-government and e-commerce.
    Each NCEP will be between NIST and a U.S. company. It is 
anticipated that NCEP agreements will be established for a three-year 
period, with renewal subject to the requirements and interests of the 
collaborator and NIST/ITL.
    Interested U.S. companies are invited to submit a letter of 
interest that contains sufficient information for NIST/ITL to 
objectively determine whether the proposed collaboration is feasible, 
relevant to the NCCoE mission to foster the rapid adoption and broad 
deployment of integrated cybersecurity tools and techniques that 
enhance consumer confidence in U.S. information systems, and has 
potential to advance the state of cybersecurity practice. Companies 
whose proposed collaborations are determined by NIST/

[[Page 71234]]

ITL to meet all three criteria will be invited to enter into 
negotiations for a cooperative research and development agreement 
(CRADA) with NIST/ITL. Companies whose letters of interest contain 
insufficient information for NIST/ITL to make a determination as to 
whether the proposed collaboration meets all three criteria, and 
companies whose proposed collaboration is determined by NIST/ITL not to 
meet all three criteria, will be notified in writing by NIST/ITL.

Alicia Chambers,
NIST Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2021-27089 Filed 12-14-21; 8:45 am]
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