Guam Office of Technology officials are recommending an expedited procurement process to use during cyber-emergencies.
At an oversight hearing Wednesday morning, acting Chief Technology Officer Bea Santos said standard procurement takes weeks or months, but fast action is needed to respond to cyber-attacks.
She suggested pre-negotiated contracts, a standard cyber-emergency declaration and a rapid-response vendor list.
In a recent attack, a number of GovGuam websites managed by a vendor were encrypted and defaced while the support contract for the vendor was in procurement.
“The vendor recommended patches a few months before this happened, and [we] were waiting for [purchase order] support to apply the patches,” Santos said.
Santos said no sensitive information was compromised.
Sen. Telo Taitague, who held the oversight hearing, said she would work on creating legislation that would address the agency’s recommendation for an emergency procurement plan and the need to create new positions through legislation.
