GDIT GETS 10-YEAR DoD CONTRACT

US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded its Defense Enterprise Office Solutions (DEOS) contract to General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT).

This $7.6 billion contract is put up by US military to run its classified, secret or back-office email and business software in the cloud for the next 10 years. The department will also run less secure office systems on the new cloud.

According to Dana Deasy, DoD CIO, DEOS would streamline the US military’s use of cloud email and collaboration tools. They would improve security and increase information sharing, she added.

Unlike the $10 billion JEDI contract, DEOS did not undergo public protest or criticism. It is also not known; how many companies participated in the bid, or if giants such as Microsoft were involved.

GDIT will however, bring Microsoft Office 365 service together with Dell and reseller Minburn Technology Group to serve 3.15 million users with document software, messaging, content management and web conferencing.

According to a statement of requirements published in January, the new office systems would work with DoD’s mobile warfare computing systems. The document contained a scenario where DEOS would run on a naval ship’s local data center, only syncing when a connection was possible.

“We are hopeful that it will operate within the disconnected, degraded, intermittent and low bandwidth (DDIL) environments that are anticipated in 21st century conflicts,” said Kenneth Bible, deputy director, C4 Department of the US Marine Corps.

Part of the project required US data centers to have Impact Level 5 and 6 security clearance – which includes data classified “secret,” and commercial data centers to be at least 150 miles (241km) apart. While Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure were the only suppliers that could meet that classification, GDIT would still implement and maintain the office software, as well as hardware and infrastructure required to run DEOS.