The Office of Personnel Management had awarded a contract to Identity Theft Guard Solutions to provide identity and credit protection services to federal employees in the wake of this summer's massive network hack, according to acting director Beth Cobert. She announced the award during a conference call with reporters on Sept. 1. The company is better known as I.D. Experts.
The contract, which is valued at around $133 million, will provide identity and credit theft protection to all 21.5 million federal employees, as well as their minor dependents, for up to three years.
Colbert said notifications for protection sign-ups will begin going out by the end of the month. The award was a task order issued under a Blanket Purchase Agreement that the General Services Administration issued on Sept. 1. GSA divided the BPAs into two tiers. The Tier One winners, companies able to deal with "data breaches impacting populations of significant size" are I.D. Experts and team led by Identity Force. Tier 2 is for smaller companies suited for more routine cyberattacks, and includes a team led by Ladlas Prince.
"As one of the millions of people who had their information stolen, I completely understand and share the concern and frustration that people are feeling," she said. "I am sorry about the concern this breach as caused and want to assure everyone impacted that we are doing everything in our power to support those individuals impacted by this cyber crime."
OPM created a team including the Defense Department and GSA to formulate an effective plan to protect victims of the hack and prevent future attempts from succeeding, Cobert said.
"In partnership with experts across government, OPM has taken significant steps to both secure our IT systems and guard against future attacks," she said.
