Booz Allen Interns Show Skills in 2022 Summer Games

Even though they’re just starting their careers, the intern participants of Booz Allen’s Summer Games tackle some of the world’s most complicated tech challenges. These include areas like clinical research, public transportation, and NextGen communications. What’s more, many of the solutions they’ve developed at the end of the 10-week program can be used now in real-world applications.

The 2022 Games continued this tradition. This summer, 144 university students from 12 cities joined forces in 36 teams. All teams competing for the coveted Challenge Cup presented their work to a panel of Booz Allen senior leaders.

This year’s Challenge Cup winner was Team SBOM Generator. Highlights follow about this open-source automation tool for government cybersecurity and what this team and other participants took away from their Summer Games experience.

Similar to a bill of materials in manufacturing, a software bill of materials (SBOM) lists the ingredients that make up a software component. SBOMs have become key building blocks in software security and software supply chain risk management.

The May 2021 Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, enacted in response to escalating cyber threats like the SolarWinds attacks, requires SBOMs for all government software.  

The SBOM Generator makes it easier for federal agencies and contractors to comply with this executive order. It uses automation to run through a project or file system, pulls every library and dependency used, and puts them in a printable table.

“This kind of requirement needs a tool like ours that can automate the process,” said SBOM Generator team member John Barvenik, who attends the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “Otherwise project managers and systems administrators would be doing tens of hours of work every time their team publishes an update to their software and risking gaps in their reports.” 

The SBOM Generator discovers vulnerable code dependencies anywhere in an organization’s repository and for any contract. This expansive scope, plus the tool’s accelerated discovery and response time, helps system admins and their organizations comply with the new Executive Order and protect their IT infrastructure.

“The most rewarding part of the Summer Games program, for me, was the knowledge that our project would have the chance to solve real-world problems,” said SBOM Generator team member and University of Maryland, Baltimore County student Andrew Knight.

Booz Allen launched the Summer Games in 2014 to help intern participants develop stronger problem-solving skills and a clearer vision for the future—both for themselves and how to approach the world’s toughest challenges.

The program connects interns with specific areas of interest to peers with different, but complementary, backgrounds based on the requirements of the project at hand. This all creates cross-functional teams, much like real business units at Booz Allen.

Over the course of 10 weeks, teams ideate, develop, and pitch a prototype solution that develops capabilities, improves processes, or promotes social good.

Intensive days of project work are enhanced by speed networking, game nights, and other forms of collaboration—giving participants the chance to connect with mentors, subject matter experts, and each other.  

As Summer Games participants get ready to go back to school, they expressed their appreciation for the summer experience and what they’ve gained.

“Booz Allen has helped me grow professionally by teaching me proper enterprise codebase architecture and the proper techniques of working on a team to complete a professional project,” said Nicholas Merke, an SBOM Generator team member who attends the University of Maryland.

SBOM Generator team member and Case Western Reserve student Ian Pallares cited, “the feeling of being on a real contracting team and building out a product for clients.”

“Working with team members and my mentor at Booz Allen to develop a solution was super fun,” he said.