Can Procurement Law Slow Down Data Breach Response? A Closer Look.

What happens when state and local governments respond to significant data breaches? They often turn to the private sector for breach response capabilities in order to mitigate damages. Speed is the name of the game, and state and local governments often move with alacrity to save face.

But what about procurement laws?

The rush to hire sophisticated private entities to support data breach response efforts is in tension with statutory competitive bidding mandates. Several state governments have already run into this quandary. Multiple media sources highlighted the 2012 data breach of the South Carolina Department of Revenue that precipitated the awarding of a $12 million contract to existing vendor Experian. Experian was contracted to provide credit monitoring services to the almost 4 million taxpayers whose private information was compromised by the breach. Although state officials claimed to have contacted and evaluated two other vendors to provide the services, the