DISA Opens For Bids On $11.7B Defense Enclave Services

ALBUQUERQUE: The final look at the $11 billion Defense Enclave Services contract, central to the Defense Information Systems Agency’s plans for the next decade, was unveiled Tuesday.

Companies eager to pitch their solution for consolidating all the sprawling networks of the Pentagon’s Fourth Estate into one, DISA-administered system can now view the final solicitation.

There is a year-long window before the single-provider contract is awarded. Solicitations are due at 10:00 am Eastern on February 8th, 2021. The award itself is scheduled for the first quarter of fiscal 2022.

Bringing together all of the various Fourth Estates networks and IT systems is a heavy lift. The process will consolidate systems, personnel, functions, and other program elements.

The solicitation says Defense Enclave Services will “establish the modern infrastructure foundation and united frame of thought needed to deliver cohesive combat support capabilities to the warfighter.”

The promise of all of this is that one shared network will improve security, access to the network, and, through standardization, will save on costs. It is easier to problem solve problems on one network, instead of across over a dozen similar but diffuse networks.

Today the Fourth Estate networks comprise at least 81 physical locations and 20,000 users, and that doesn’t even begin to factor in the number of people working remotely in the pandemic.

The solicitation was pushed back from its original planned release in September to ensure that Dana Deasy, Chief Information Officer for the DoD, could thoroughly give the request due diligence.