On August 29, the
U.S. General Services Administration and U.S. Department of Defense announced
the award of the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions (DEOS) Blanket Purchase
Agreement (BPA), which is built on the Microsoft O365 platform, to CSRA LLC and
its Contractor Teaming Partners Dell Marketing L.P. and Minburn Technology
Group LLC.
DEOS represents an
enterprise based set of capabilities that include: productivity tools such as
word processing and spreadsheets, email, collaboration, file sharing, and
storage. DEOS will be used to replace legacy DOD IT office applications with a
standard cloud-based solution across all military services.
“DOD’s cloud strategy includes both general purpose and fit-for-purpose clouds. DEOS is a great example of a fit-for-purpose cloud that supports our multi-cloud strategy,” said DOD Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy. “DEOS will streamline our use of cloud email and collaborative tools while enhancing cybersecurity and information sharing based on standardized needs and market offerings.”
“The journey to the
cloud has been, and will continue to be, an iterative learning process,” Deasy
continued. “All lessons learned from pilot programs and the department’s early
cloud adopters have been rolled into this solution. DEOS takes advantage of
technical, security and contractual lessons from these ongoing pilots, while
military services are leveraging them to assess the readiness of their
infrastructure to support migration to DEOS,” said Deasy.
“The Marine
Corps looks forward to the promise and substantial benefits that DEOS presents
with its capabilities. We are hopeful that it will supply the ability to
operate within the disconnected, degraded, intermittent and low bandwidth
(DDIL) environments that are anticipated in 21st century conflicts,” said
Deputy Director Kenneth Bible, Command, Control, Communications, and Computers
(C4) Department Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps.
“The Marine Corps
continues to forge a path with our DDIL pilot, shaping the services’ strategies
for DEOS to more closely align with current technological trends and
advancements as cloud continues to be the industry standard,” said Bible.
The DOD CIO and
Defense Information Systems Agency have worked closely with GSA to reduce
duplicative efforts across the department, such as Defense Enterprise Email and
other Service-Centric Email systems, simplify contract administration, and
reduce associated costs by using GSA’s IT Schedule 70 contract vehicle to deliver
the latest in commercial cloud technology with an innovative and efficient
solution for office applications.
“DEOS demonstrates
our shared commitment to maximizing the buying power of the entire federal
government,” said GSA Administrator Emily Murphy. “It will bring cost savings
and help DOD easily share mission-critical information across all military
services while enhancing cybersecurity and reducing costs. GSA is proud that
DOD chose to partner with us on IT modernization and leverage the GSA Schedules.”
The Office of
Management and Budget outlined a Cloud Smart Strategy, which establishes a new
blueprint for federal agencies to easily adopt cloud solutions. This effort is
consistent with the President’s Management Agenda and will run in close alignment
with the DEOS acquisition strategy.
DOD estimates the value of the DEOS BPA at $7.6 billion over a 10-year period, which includes a five-year base period with two two-year options and one one-year option.
Source: GSA
By Loren Blinde
September 3, 2019
