The Department of Education said it anticipates releasing a solicitation seeking cloud hosting, system administration, and website support and development for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), according to a recent Beta.Sam.gov posting.
IES is an independent, non-partisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the Department of Education. The presolicitation notice explained IES currently maintains a virtual data center, which consists of approximately 60 virtual servers.
The department said the primary function of the data center is to host survey collection and dissemination websites in support of IES’ mission.
“This includes web servers, database servers, a vast array of websites and data-driven web applications, a system management and web development environment, terminal servers housing analytical and statistical software, and other system support servers,” the presolicitation said. “Support for all aspects of IES’ web operations, including system administration, website administration and development, and user, staff and developer support, is provided by a team within IES which is comprised of government and contractor staff.”
The Department of Education said the eventual award will require contractors that can pass “high-risk background checks.
The department anticipates releasing a request for proposal at some point this month. The eventual contract will include a 12-month base period and four 12-month option periods. The department did not list the anticipated contract amount, but in a questions and answers document, Education said the contract does not have “ceiling value.”
