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Cybersecurity Compliance - A Competitive Advantage
With the help of: New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP)
About
The Challenge
Recent contract awards have lead Crowley Fabricating & Machining Co., Inc., to assess their cybersecurity. As a potential Department of Defense (DOD) contractor, Crowley needed to ensure its systems complied with the new NIST Special Publication 800-171 requirement for protecting controlled unclassified information in non-federal information systems and organizations.
Lacking a full-time information technology staff, Crowley needed extra support to address the government regulation, especially given the requirement’s tight time-frame. The company called on the Alliance for Manufacturing Technology (AM&T), part of the New York MEP and the MEP National Network™, and a third-party partner, AIM, also part of the New York MEP and the MEP National Network™, to help interpret the guidelines, assess vulnerabilities, and execute improvements before the strict compliance deadline.
The grant that AM&T initiated with AIM has made it possible to achieve our customers’ requirements as a supplier and continue to do business with them. This service is very important in helping small companies stay competitive and to grow. Our competitors are going after the small companies because they know most of them cannot afford to invest the time or money to keep up with cyber security. I have shared with other primes what we have invested in and they are very
excited to hear what we have accomplished. This has certainly opened up more opportunities for our company.
MEP's Role
In May 2019, Crowley contracted AM&T to support its efforts in becoming cybersecurity compliant. AM&T utilized AIM, also part of the New York MEP and to guide Crowley through the complex regulations and requirements associated with becoming compliant to DFARS in accordance with NIST 800-171. By September 2019, Crowley implemented the necessary changes to ensure compliance with the cybersecurity standard, securing their government contracts and retaining sales and jobs. The improvements also led to cost savings for the company, and AM&T was able to secure a DOD cybersecurity grant to offset Crowley’s total cost of the program.