There is a rapid increase in the demand for cybersecurity professionals in the current ICT landscape. However, the demand outpaces the supply in the workforce.
As such, a big gap is produced and needs to be addressed. Because of this lack of cybersecurity professionals, it is critical that government and military personnel, CII and individuals be equipped with the necessary skill set.
These skill set will be used to identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from cyberattacks.
Cyber Training Facility
According to a recent press release, the Philippines’ National Cybersecurity Plan (NCSP) 2022 has identified the cultivation of existing talents and the development of new ones through the creation of a Cyber Training Facility as one of its strategies.
The aforementioned facility will house the ICT Testing Lab and the Digital Forensics and Reverse Malware Lab.
It is part of the 2019 Projects of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Enabling Technologies and the Cyber Security Bureau.
As reported, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will be offering to bidders a project to build the Cyber Training Facility.
RFI to begin bidding process for the building of the Facility
The Department will be initiating the first step of the bidding process with a Request for Information (RFI) meeting with interested participants.
The RFI will give solutions providers the opportunity to join and show their solutions so that the government can benefit.
The next stages after the RFI will be pre-procurement, publication of Terms of Reference (ToR), pre-bidding, submission of bids then opening.
Hopefully, the target for opening of the bids will be around the last weeks of July or August.
The project is expected to cost around US$ 5.8 million (PHP 300 million) and will be funded through the General Appropriations Act of 2019.
The project has to be awarded by December 2019. Whoever wins will have implementation targeteted for next year.
The project to be bid out will have four components: the ICT Equipment Testing Lab, Malware Lab, Cyber Range, and Training Facilities.
The National Cybersecurity Plan 2022
The National Cybersecurity Plan (NCSP) 2022 was created to address the urgency of the protecting the nation’s Critical Infostructyre (CII); Government Networks, both the public and military; Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to large businesses and their supply chains; and every Filipino using cyberspace.
OpenGov Asia earlier reported on the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s release of the National Cybersecurity Plan 2022.
The report explained that the NCSP was intended to shape the policy of the government on cybersecurity and the crafting of guidelines that will be adapted down to the smallest unit of the government.
OpenGov Asia also reported recently on the DICT’s launch of the Philippines’ national cyber intelligence platform.
The Cybersecurity Management System Project (CMSP) will be the Philippine government’s national platform for intelligence sharing.
The platform aims to build the resilience of the country as part of the National Cybersecurity Plan 2022, which has the vision to reach the state of having a “Trusted and Resilient Infostructure.”