GDIT wins $7.6B Pentagon business software cloud contract

The Pentagon's other big cloud play -- a 10-year, $8 billion email and business software buy -- was awarded today to a team led by General Dynamics Information Technology.

GDIT is joined by team partners Dell Marketing L.P. and Minburn Technology Group. They'll be integrating Department of Defense users and systems to work with the Microsoft O365 platform.

The Defense Enterprise Office Solutions (DEOS) contract has a $7.6 billion ceiling and spans a five-year base period with two two-year options and a one-year option. Contracting documents indicate DEOS could serve as many as 3.15 million users.

The Defense Information Systems Agency and the General Services Administration collaborated on developing the contract, leveraging GSA's IT Schedule 70 to access commercial cloud services offerings.

"DOD's cloud strategy includes both general purpose and fit-for-purpose clouds. DEOS is a great example of a fit-for-purpose cloud that supports our multi-cloud strategy," DOD CIO Dana Deasy said in an Aug. 29 statement. "DEOS will streamline our use of cloud email and collaborative tools while enhancing cybersecurity and information sharing based on standardized needs and market offerings."

In addition to email, spreadsheets, productivity tools and word processing software the contract includes web conferencing, instant messaging, native audio and video and mobility through the commercial cloud model.

The Marine Corps announced plans to be an early DEOS customer, leveraging the tools for use in challenging environments.

"The Marine Corps looks forward to the promise and substantial benefits that DEOS presents with its capabilities. We are hopeful that it will supply the ability to operate within the disconnected, degraded, intermittent and low bandwidth environments that are anticipated in 21st century conflicts," said Kenneth Bible, deputy CIO and deputy director C4 at U.S.M.C headquarters. "The Marine Corps continues to forge a path with our DDIL pilot, shaping the services' strategies for DEOS to more closely align with current technological trends and advancements as cloud continues to be the industry standard."

Clarification: This story was updated to indicate that GDIT won the DEOS contract. Contracting documents list CSRA as the awardee because the contract was bid before GDIT's acquisition of CSRA had closed.