AVERT evaluates vulnerabilities, assess solutions

and security of the nation’s nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation, and naval reactor programs, avoided about $5 million in security costs for FY 2008 and 2009. After having completed an AVERT assessment of their facility, NNSA realized they were not going to be any more secure with newly proposed security counter-measures, and they were able to take these measures out of their budget.

Purchasing options

Ares offers a security optimization report (SOR) that assesses and provides recommendations which, depending on the size of the facility, may cost between $50,000 and $100,000. This process involves baseline assessments, modeling the facility and deciding upon various mitigation strategies.

Modeling could take a week to a month to complete, depending on the complexity of the assigned structures. The current security measures used by the facility are also taken into account during this time, as well as terrain and topographical charateritics. All routes of access would be considered depending on adversary capability. An AVERT user could model certain detection tools such as ground vibration sensors or sonar to detect an adversary’s way of travel.

AVERT’s purchasing options also include monthly subscriptions that cost approximately $5,000. This option would require that the user model their own facility after being trained on how to use the software by AVERT specialists.

Competition

The Department of Energy uses two software products in conjunction with Avert — Assess and Atlas. These two Sandia National Lab products provide a static 2D logic rendering of any given facility, whereas AVERT can render an interactive 3D model of any mapped facility.

“Internationally, the most comparable security risk assessment can only be provided by a traditional walk-down by an experienced Navy seal or Delta force member,” said Hawley.

“They would use their expertise from years of infiltrating certain facilities and provide their angles of approach in which to improve security measures—but there’s a lot of room for error in these types of evaluations.”

Contracts

ARES currently has a 5-year contract with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to perform assessments on all installations that house nuclear assets for the air-force and navy. The DTRA is the U.S. Department of Defense’s official Combat Support Agency for countering weapons of mass destruction. Phase two of the contract entails Ares informing the deputy assistant to secretary of defense for nuclear matters (NM). DTRA has created a center of excellence and will perform an evaluation of threats in accordance with proliferation prevention strategies.

DTRA currently holds a perpetual license of the AVERT software in order to perform security risk assessments on various buildings within the department.

A press release from 28 June 2010 announced a contract between Ares and DoD’s Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA), which formulates, executes, and oversees DoD-mandated human resource programs, budgets, policies, and initiatives in support of America’s armed forces.

Software update

ARES Corporation announced the release of AVERT 5.1, the latest version of its powerful 3D security assessment and optimization software on 19 April 2010. As the only product of its type — physical security threat and vulnerability assessment tool — to receive the SAFETY Act certification from the Department of Homeland Security, AVERT 5.1 has been further upgraded for improved decision-making. The company says the new version runs up to 57 percent faster and can analyze system effectiveness at separate layers of defense, combing through each section of any security system. In addition to increased detail, AVERT 5.1 comes with the capability to compare several different security configurations simultaneously.