The Defense Department’s Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is ramping up the first development phase of milCloud 2.0, its platform to connect commercial cloud providers with defense networks, by awarding CSRA Inc. [CSRA] a $498 million ceiling contract to utilize their private infrastructure and help broaden their cloud portfolio.
The indefinite-delivery contract, officially awarded on June 9 and announced on June 26, will begin with an initial $600,000 task order to the information technology (IT) and professional services company and contains a three-year base period for operations through June 2020 with five subsequent one-year follow-up options.
“During the initial task period, CSRA will be responsible for Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router hardware installation, certification, and accreditation activities. It will also include tasks to achieve an Infrastructure as a Service Department of Defense Level 5 Provisional Authorization, tasks to achieve transition of initial consumer workloads, and several other tasks,” CSRA spokesman Tim Doheny told Defense Daily.
All eight years of possible contract options would involve phase one of the milCloud 2.0 development, according to Doheny.
With milCloud 2.0, DISA will expand upon current services offered in 1.0 while moving towards continued support of DoD data center consolidation and the transition from legacy applications to cloud computing services. DISA is aiming to reduce the total cost of ownership for defense infrastructure services and utilize the cloud to allow mission partners to meet real-time operational requirements.
CSRA’s role in phase one of milCloud 2.0, if subsequent contracts are picked up, will include providing infrastructure services to DoD consumers and partners, improving performance of data center services, reducing DoD’s total cost of ownership for delivering infrastructure services, broadening the overall cloud portfolio, and ensuring that all services meet cybersecurity and privacy regulations.
“We are now positioned as the industry leader for cloud and military IT. The milCloud 2.0 platform will enable our DoD customers to deploy CSRA’s next-generation technology and services to complete their missions more efficiently and more securely,” CSRA President and CEO Larry Prior said in a statement. “The Department of Defense is ready to take the next step in its IT transformation. We are excited to continue this partnership with the military and provide our experts and resources to exceed their demands.”
The ceiling contract would also utilize CSRA’s Integrated Technology Center to provide additional support for the various areas of the DoD’s cloud network.