Seeking Subject Matter Experts to contribute to a comprehensive analysis of available research security tools

The International Research, Data, and Emerging Technology Security program at CRDF Global is committed to protecting and defending advanced research, data, and technology from exploitation, theft, and IP infringement by adversarial actors. To support this effort CRDF Global on behalf of the United States Department of State Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) is seeking experts to contribute to a comprehensive analysis of available research security tools. Selected contractor(s) will collect, format, and analyze data on research security tools available to institutions across the globe; provide a written summary of publicly available and private or proprietary tools; write a technical analysis of these tools’ use cases, strengths, and weaknesses; and provide a prioritized recommendation set for development of new tools. These outputs will inform a program to address critical gaps in support of global research security objectives, provide useful tools to selected research institutions, and prevent adversary acquisition of sensitive, weapons applicable research, data, and technology.

Contractor(s) will develop a comprehensive, defensible landscape and gap analysis of existing research security tools (public/open-source and private/commercial). For the purposes of this scope, “tools” may include but is not limited to, software platforms, analytic resources, frameworks, templates, checklists, guidance documents, or other practical resources used to support research security practices.   The study will: (1) develop a methodological framework for study design, including proposing transparent inclusion and exclusion criteria appropriate to the objectives of the analysis; (2) identify and catalogue existing tools and platforms used by research institutions to manage research security and related risks; (3) evaluate whether tools could be adapted or scaled for global use; (4) evaluate strengths, limitations, adoption barriers, and use cases; and (5) identify capability gaps and prioritize recommendations for new tool development or procurement to meet selected partner institutional needs. Contractor(s) are encouraged to propose inclusive approaches that capture both established and emerging practices within the research security domain.