Jane Edwards
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has asked industry to submit proposals for a potential four-year, $77 million program that aims to develop systems that will work to detect and respond to cyber attacks on the U.S. power grid.
DARPA posted the broad agency announcement for the Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation and Characterization Systems program on FedBizOpps website Friday, the agency said Monday.
RADICS’ goal is to build systems designed to restore power within one week after a cyber attack on the electrical infrastructure through research in technical areas.
These technical areas include network isolation, situational awareness, testbed and sandbox provider, and system evaluator.
“If a well-coordinated cyberattack on the nation’s power grid were to occur today, the time it would take to restore power would pose daunting national security challenges,†said John Everett, a program manager at DARPA.
“Beyond the severe domestic impacts, including economic and human costs, prolonged disruption of the grid would hamper military mobilization and logistics, impairing the government’s ability to project force or pursue solutions to international crises.â€
DARPA announced the release of the BAA after it scheduled a Proposers Day for the program Monday.
The agency said it will accept proposals for the program through Feb. 11, 2016.
