Air Force awards $5.7B contract for enterprise IT as a service
The Air Force has awarded a $5.7 billion blanket purchase agreement to an industry team led by CACI NSS for Enterprise Information Technology as a Service (EITaaS) Wave 1, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.
The EITaaS program is meant to outsource basic IT services so that the Air Force can free up airmen for more specialized, cyber-focused network defense and mission assurance. Wave 1 serves as an upgrade with improved and consolidated service desks as well as a catalog for more than 700,000 users worldwide, according to the Air Force. It also the first effort to expand from the initial EITaaS risk reduction effort.
Air Force CIO Lauren Knausenberger has said that with Wave 1, the department will for the first time have enterprise IT service management, one platform and one easy way to enter a trouble ticket, as well as a wider variety of end-user devices and an easier way to order them.
The hope is that it will also allow for the use of analytics and other tools to identify issues in the enterprise and go after those proactively.
CACI NSS is the contractor team lead for EITaaS Wave 1 and will provide services with other team members, which include Bowhead Logistics Management, Cartridge Technologies, InSequence, Cask NX, CDIT, Vision Information Technology Consultants, Oneida Technical Solutions, Enhanced Veterans Solutions, and Expansia Group.
“Work will predominantly be performed in Chantilly, Virginia, with additional locations depending on individual BPA order requirements, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 29, 2032,” the DOD contract award announcement said. “This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with four quotations received.”
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center is the contracting activity.
As for Wave 2, the scope is still changing as the Air Force moves toward industry days and draft requests for proposals. However, it will include overhauling base infrastructure, and about 30 bases will be prioritized, Knausenberger said last month at a forum hosted by the Potomac Officers Club.
“I suspect that the money will come when one of our industry partners knocks it out of the park and shows us that that next-generation architecture makes a huge impact for unclassified and secret warfighting capabilities as well as a huge impact to our business capability, our ability to fight with our allies and our ability just to be more efficient in our day-to-day business,” she said.
