In the rapidly evolving world of IT modernization, federal agencies face a unique set of challenges. They must navigate complex security mandates and legacy systems while striving for the agility and speed of modern software development. A recent webinar featuring experts from IBM Federal and Nirmata shed light on this very topic, offering a compelling vision for accelerating DevSecOps and ensuring security is a foundational element, not an afterthought.

 

The Challenge: Navigating a Complex Landscape

A poll conducted during the webinar revealed the top hurdles for federal agencies: a tie between manual processes and legacy systems and security and compliance mandates. This perfectly illustrates the central conflict. How do you move fast when everything is a manual, security-audited process?

 

As Mark Wells, DevSecOps and IT Automation Practice Lead for IBM Federal, explained, this was the exact problem that led to the creation of the IBM PTE Factory. Born from the chaos of DevOps engineers “running around like chickens with their heads cut off,” the factory was designed to automate the deployment of infrastructure and development environments.

 

The Solution: The IBM PDE Factory

The IBM PDE Factory is an asset—a platform and product engineering tool designed to deliver core services and support for software engineering. It’s built around a “start left” philosophy, meaning security is integrated from the very beginning of the process, not “shifted left” later.

 

The factory’s core is a series of “builders” that automate critical tasks:

• Resource Builder: Ensures all container images and resources are certified and attested to, with near-zero vulnerabilities, before they are ever used.
• Platform Builder: Automates the creation of the entire cloud architecture.
• Security Builder: Deploys pre-configured bundles of security policies.
• Stack Builder: Defines the specific technologies used in a project.
• Project Builder: Deploys a complete DevSecOps as a Service environment.

 

All of these are configured within a blueprint, a standardized template that allows a complete development environment, including 20-25 tools, to be deployed in about 45 minutes. A new project can be ready in just 10 minutes, allowing developers to start coding immediately instead of spending weeks on setup.

 

This streamlined process also directly addresses new federal mandates, such as the revised cybersecurity executive orders that require compliance with NIST 800-218 and the secure software development framework. According to Mark Wells, the PDE Factory, in collaboration with Nirmata, meets 90% of these practices out of the box, offering a clear path to compliance.

 

Read more about PDE Factory

 

The Power of Policy as Code

The technical engine driving this security-first approach is policy as code (PaC). As Dolis, Solution Architect at Nirmata, demonstrated, misconfigurations are the leading cause of security incidents (accounting for 93% of them, according to a CNCF report). A single misconfigured pod, such as one with root privileges or host access, can compromise an entire cluster.

 

PaC solves this by treating security policies like software code. You can write rules once and apply them across pipelines, clusters, and clouds, ensuring consistency and preventing human error. Nirmata’s solution, built on the CNCF-incubated project Kyverno, makes this process seamless. Policies are written in Kubernetes-native YAML, making them easy to create and understand.

 

With this approach, you can have a tiered enforcement model:

• Development: Policies issue warnings, allowing developers to move quickly and identify issues without being blocked.

• Test: Policies issue errors, providing a stronger gate before deployment.

• Production: Policies enforce the rules, blocking any deployment that is not compliant.

 

This model strikes a crucial balance—it empowers developers with autonomy and speed while maintaining the strict, non-negotiable security controls required for federal systems.

 

A Cultural Shift: From Remediation to Creation

A significant cultural challenge facing agencies is the overwhelming focus on remediation. As Mark noted, many agencies spend up to 80% of their budget fighting vulnerabilities, leaving only 20% for new development. The IBM and Nirmata solution flips this model, allowing teams to focus on building new code.

 

By automating vulnerability management with tools like the Resource Builder and enforcing policies early in the pipeline, the need for constant, manual security fixes is drastically reduced. This shift helps agencies move away from a culture of separate, often conflicting, Dev, Sec, and Ops teams and towards a unified, collaborative DevSecOps approach.

 

The key takeaway is clear: security should not be a separate service or an obstacle to innovation. By adopting a security-first, “start left” mindset and leveraging automated platforms like the IBM PDE Factory with partners like Nirmata, federal agencies can accelerate their IT modernization journey and build a more secure future.

 

Watch the full on-demand webinar and learn more about Nirmata at https://nirmata.com/.