LIGHTWEIGHT DEVICE SECURITY AGENT, INTEROPERABILITY, AND OT/IT INTEGRATION FOR OT, IOT, AND EDGE ENVIRONMENTS COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS OPENING (CSO) PROGRAM

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Procurement Operations on behalf of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is issuing the subject General Solicitation for DHS and all its Components to rapidly procure commercially available, lightweight security agent capable of providing device-level threat detection and alerting across Operational Technology (OT), Internet of Things (IoT), and edge environments, while remaining compatible with broader enterprise IT systems. This capability will be procured using the Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) authority to enable rapid acquisition of innovative, field-ready security technologies that address evolving cyber threats in operational environments. The CSO is a merit-based solution selection strategy for DHS to acquire innovative commercial items through the use of general solicitation competitive procedures and the award of a contract. "Innovative", within the meaning of this statute, is any new technology, process, or method, including research and development, or any new application of an existing technology, process, or method.  "Commercial item" has the same meaning as commercial item under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 2.101, which includes certain commercial services.

The CSO General Solicitation aims to identify new ideas, approaches, tools, and partnerships that can help the Department address critical challenges and accelerate transformation across its maritime enterprise. This General Solicitation provides a flexible mechanism to solicit, evaluate, and fund exploratory and applied work that does not fit neatly into traditional acquisition frameworks, but that has the potential to improve DHS’s ability to acquire, oversee, and operate with their maritime enterprise.

This procurement is limited to innovative commercial products relevant to the Focus Area outlined in the solicitation. Within the meaning of the statute, innovative is defined as, “Any new technology, process, or method, including research and development, or any new application of an existing technology, process, or method.”  Proposals will be evaluated on their individual merits rather than on a comparative basis. Besides the criterion described in the solicitation, the concept paper responses must clearly demonstrate how the commercial item is offered in an innovative manner.

The concept papers will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria. Each concept paper submitted may be evaluated against the evaluation criteria separately and need not be evaluated against other concept paper responses submitted by other Offerors.  More than one concept paper may be accepted. The Government reserves the right to request interview-style oral presentations or additional written information, if applicable, from one or more Offerors.

The Department anticipates that different technologies may address different focus areas and that a portfolio of complementary capabilities may be required to advance the Department’s OT strategy.  Industry is invited to respond to this initial General Solicitation addressing the first Focus Area Topic – Security.  The Government may issue additional solicitations (to be identified at a later date via an amendment to this posting) at any time for subsequent procurement of any of the three Focus Area Topics previously identified below. The response time for those requests will be stated in the subsequent solicitations.  As Focus Area Topics are released and solution briefs are submitted, the Government will provide a follow-up message acknowledging receipt of the submitter’s submission and further expectations on the timeline for review and evaluation.

This CSO General Solicitation will stay open until September 30, 2026.  The Department intends to use this CSOP to identify, evaluate, and deploy commercial technologies that advance one or more of the Department’s CIO Operational Technology (OT) strategy focus areas. These focus areas represent priority domains for investment and capability development and are not intended to imply that a single solution must address all areas simultaneously. Capabilities procured under this CSO may support one or more of the following focus areas:

1. Security – Technologies that enhance visibility, detection, resilience, or response in OT, IoT, and edge environments, particularly in contexts where traditional enterprise security solutions are impractical or insufficient.
2. Interoperability – Technologies that improve connectivity, data exchange, or coordination across OT systems, platforms, and environments, including solutions that reduce fragmentation, enable integration, or facilitate standardized interaction between disparate operational technologies systems.
3. OT / IT Integration – Technologies that enable responsible integration between OT environments and enterprise IT systems, including solutions that facilitate the flow of operational data into enterprise analytics, security operations, or situational awareness platforms, while respecting operational, safety, and reliability constraints.

Potential Submitters are hereby advised of the following:

1.         It is within the Government’s discretion to accept more than one solution for a contract award resulting from this CSO Solicitation.

2.         All costs of preparing and submitting solution videos, written submission, and additional presentations/demonstrations related to this CSO Solicitation are the responsibility of the submitting entity and not eligible for funding or reimbursement by the Government.

3.         The evaluation will include an assessment of whether the proposed commercial product or service is innovative within the meaning of the statute. Submission and proposals are evaluated on individual merit rather than on a comparative basis, and the Government has considerable latitude in determining which of the submitted proposals it will fund.

4.         To be eligible for award, Companies must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) prior to DHS making a CSO contract award.

The first Focus Area Topic under this CSO is Security.  The government is currently accepting proposals from Offerors that can meet the Security capabilities outlined in the attached General Solicitation.  Submissions must be received prior to Friday, January 30, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. eastern time.  Responses shall be submitted electronically to the following: Tanya.Hill@hq.dhs.gov and Tracy.Miller@hq.dhs.gov. The subject line of the e-mail must be titled “CSO Requirement 70RDA126R00000004 - Focus Area 1 - Security.”  Note:  The Government will review responses as they are submitted and may award at any time. 

All questions regarding this solicitation shall be submitted in writing (via email) to Tanya.Hill@hq.dhs.gov and Tracy.Miller@hq.dhs.gov.

Please review the attached solicitation for submission instructions and evaluation procedures for the first Focus Area Topic - Security.