The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a second update on its efforts to advance Data Center and Cloud Optimization (DCCO).
The Jan. 11 update follows a notice posted in July on Beta.Sam.gov and an update in September. In the original notice, DHS said it is looking to acquire “support services for management of its enterprise data center and to implement and manage its future state enterprise hosting environment.” The eventual acquisition is intended to “drive a more efficient, responsive hybrid information technology hosting environment that also serves as the foundation for the management and integration of a multi-cloud and co-location environment.”
As part of the eventual acquisition, DHS is looking to migrate some of its apps to the cloud, with the remainder hosted in the data center or co-location service providers. This transition will leave the data center as “the core DHS compute and storage environment from which to host and manage enterprise infrastructure and applications.” The data center currently contains both sensitive, but unclassified IT and classified IT infrastructure, applications, and data.
DHS is looking to acquire three main types of services:
- Operate, Maintain, and Optimize DC1 Services: “Provide continuing support of current services. Implement, optimize, and operate compute and storage infrastructure and applications in DC1 and other associated locations.”
- Professional Services: “Provide professional services that support ongoing operations, optimization, and implementation of the target state and continued advisory services for emerging technology and IT hosting practices.”
- Cloud, Co-location, and Integration Services: “Provide services from and integration to FedRAMP-Certified Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to support Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, and Platform as a Service.”
In the update, DHS said it intends to release the final solicitation on Jan. 12, 2021, on Beta.Sam.gov, though as of publishing the solicitation has not yet been posted. The department said phase one proposals would be due later this month and phase two would be due in early February. DHS also said it anticipates awarding the control in mid-April of this year. Originally, DHS anticipated releasing the official solicitation in late-August, with proposals due in early-October, and eventually awarding the contract by mid-December. In the September update, DHS delayed releasing the final solicitation until mid-October, with proposals due mid-November, and the contract awarded early January 2021. DHS has not said what has caused the delays on the project.
