Over the last two years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded more than $11 billion across 10 separate cloud contracts. As the agency continues to execute the DOD Cloud Strategy, additional contracts are planned for both cloud services and complementary migration and integration solutions necessary to achieve effective cloud adoption.

The Pentagon. Photo by Senior Airman Perry Aston, USAF.

The Department of Defense has now taken another step forward in the implementation of the Cloud Strategy with the award of an enterprise general-purpose cloud contract to Microsoft.  This continues the DoD's strategy of a multi-vendor, multi-cloud environment, as the department’s needs are diverse and cannot be met by any single supplier. This contract will address critical and urgent unmet warfighter requirements for modern cloud infrastructure at all three classification levels delivered out to the tactical edge.

This award is the conclusion of a process that began with the release of the first RFI to industry nearly two years ago. Throughout that time, the department’s focus never wavered from the need to support our warfighters with this essential capability.

The acquisition process was conducted in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. The process cleared review by the GAO and Court of Federal Claims.  At the outset the competition included four different offerors.  All offerors were treated fairly and evaluated consistently with the solicitation’s stated evaluation criteria. Prior to the award, the department conferred with the DoD Inspector General, which informed the decision to proceed.

The base contract period is two years with a $1 million guarantee.  The department projects that user adoption will drive an estimated $210 million of spending during the two year base period. The DoD will rigorously review contract performance prior to the exercise of any options.

The Department continues to assess and pursue various cloud contracting opportunities to diversify the capabilities of the DoD Enterprise Cloud Environment. Additional contracting opportunities are anticipated.

DoD CIO Dana Deasy said the National Defense Strategy dictates that the agency must improve the speed and effectiveness with which modernized technical capabilities are developed and deployed to the women and men in uniform. The DoD Digital Modernization Strategy was created to support this imperative. This award is an important step in execution of the Digital Modernization Strategy.

DoD will continue to partner closely with industry to bring the best of commercial innovation to bear on behalf of our nation’s warfighters.