The State Department is looking for a contractor to support its centralized cloud management efforts and, ideally, would like a small business to take on the role.
While government agencies have moved to cloud services over the past 10 years – first as part of the Obama-era Cloud First policy, then as part of the Trump administration’s Cloud Smart – the State Department saw particular value in this move, because its activities are spread across the globe.
“When the federal government is involved in overseas activities, the Foreign Ministry is involved. … It’s not a simple mission set. And it depends on which country you are in, “said then CIO Stuart McGuigan at an event in January 2020.” The sweet spot lies between cloud – the ability to enlarge, shrink – and agility Technology is the State Department’s sweet spot. “
The Cloud Program Management Office was established two years ago as the central organization office for all of the department’s cloud efforts. In a notice posted on beta.SAM.gov, the bureau urged potential vendors to support these efforts.
“The office implements and maintains an enterprise cloud ecosystem to deliver the full range of business solutions to end users and shared service providers while leveraging multiple best-in-class commercial cloud providers,” the press release said. “The office manages the development, provision and operation of new and existing cloud services for companies.”
The office accomplishes this by offering a variety of managed services, including cybersecurity, infrastructure, and access to agency-wide contracts.
The cloud PMO also looks for new technologies and use cases and evaluates the adaptation to the department’s environment.
“The office identifies potential areas where new tools and technologies can be deployed or where new ones need to be developed, particularly with a view to future business expansion,” the press release said.
The sources requesting notice listed five tasks that are likely to be part of the final call:
- Cloud-ready application development: Design and develop cloud applications for a range of cloud solutions such as ServiceNow, Salesforce, or other cloud solutions that the department is currently using or may use in the future.
- IaaS, PaaS and SaaS management: Assisting the government in managing Infrastructure-as-a-Service platforms including, but not limited to, Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure. The contractor will assist the government in managing Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service platforms including, but not limited to, Google Workspace, ServiceNow and SalesForce.
- IT collaboration support: Providing leadership and technical support for developing and overseeing execution of design solutions for customer transitions.
- IT budget reporting and administrative support: Assistance in creating and managing the budget request for the CPMO fiscal year.
- Special studies and expert services: The contractor will support the program by providing from time to time special studies and analysis, expert services and management analysis, and participation in working groups or panels as determined by the program manager. This may include designated assistance to other information resource management offices.
The note provides additional details about the expected tasks.
The sources searched are looking for feedback from 8 (a) certified small businesses on whether they can do these jobs.
In a question-and-answer document, the contract agents said the office expected to present a single award “as soon as possible”.
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