The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced a new solicitation seeking solutions to generate synthetic data to train machine learning models.
According to DHS, synthetic data is important to the department because it models and replicates the shape and patterns of real data, while safeguarding privacy and mitigating security harms.
DHS uses synthetic data when real-world data is not available, or when using it would pose privacy and security risks, particularly if the real-world data includes sensitive information, such as personally identifiable information.
“It is crucial for DHS to effectively navigate today’s complex privacy landscape and employ innovative ideas and next generation technology techniques to do so,” said Melissa Oh, managing director of S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program. “The ability to generate synthetic data at scale is necessary to protect and preserve data privacy, as well as safeguard civil rights and liberties.”
According to DHS, companies participating in this topic call are eligible for up to $1.7 million of non-dilutive funding over four phases to develop and adapt commercial technologies for homeland security use cases.
The tech solutions DHS is looking for in this topic call should provide capabilities such as removing bias in the synthetic data and preventing real data from being reverse engineered from synthetic data, among other things.
DHS noted that the solicitation seeks privacy preserving technical capabilities that directly serve the mission needs of DHS operational components and offices, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“CISA strives to introduce and integrate state-of-the art technology into our operational activities,” said Garfield Jones, CISA’s associate chief of strategic technology. “The introduction of Privacy Enhancing Technologies, such as the generation and use of synthetic data, will allow us to mature our operational collaboration with government, industry, academic, and international partners while safeguarding data privacy.”
Applications for the solicitation are open until April 10. On Feb. 22 at 1 p.m. EST, DHS will host a hybrid industry day to provide an overview of the topic call and answer solicitation questions.
On the same day, the Federal Chief Data Officers (CDO) Council also released a request for information (RFI) on synthetic data generation as it works to develop a best practice guide.
“The CDO Council is interested in consolidating feedback and inputs from qualified experts to gain additional insight and assist with establishing a best practice guide around synthetic data generation,” the RFI says. “The CDO Council has preliminarily drafted a working definition of synthetic data generation and several key questions to better inform its work.”
Comments are due by Feb. 5.
