The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued another update – now up to three in total – in its search for solicitations that would improve the agency’s Data Center and Cloud Optimization (DCCO) efforts.
The Feb. 3 update, posted on beta.SAM.gov, follows the original posting last July, and updates in September and January 2021. DHS is pushing back its Phase I proposal response due date to Feb. 11, while the agency reassesses questions and responses to the second amendment to the solicitation.
In addition, DHS will be releasing a revised schedule including new dates for milestones and a virtual pre-proposal conference. Those are the only changes to the solicitation for a contractor that can:
- Operate, maintain, and optimize Data Center 1 (DC1) services;
- Provide services that “support ongoing operations, optimization, and implementation of the target state and continued advisory services for emerging technology and IT hosting practices;” and
- Help integration to FedRAMP-Certified Cloud Service Providers.
The eventual goal of the solicitation is to migrate some DHS applications to the cloud and have the rest hosted at DC1 or co-location service providers. DC1 currently contains both sensitive, but unclassified IT and classified IT infrastructure, applications, and data. The transition will make DC1 the main compute and storage environment for DHS.
It is not clear how this update will affect the award schedule, as DHS was previously looking to award a contract in April 2021.
