The Defense Department-wide push toward enterprise IT poses major implications for the cloud computing market as military organizations join forces on technology and acquisition.
DoD spending on cloud has decreased in recent years, along with most other defense spending, but budget cuts aren't necessarily to blame for most of those declines. The Pentagon is consolidating IT across the military, and that includes how it buys IT products and services.
Cloud is one of the IT-focused areas most vulnerable to changes in policy as DoD leaders test-drive commercial cloud services through pilot programs, and as the DoD CIO office prepares to issue new directives related to cloud-buying authorities. In September, DoD rescinded the memo that had made the Defense Information Systems Agency the department's cloud broker, responsible for procuring cloud services. Now the military branches and defense agencies will take control of their own cloud acquisition, though the document that will officially lay out the new policy has yet to be released.
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"My belief is moving into commercial cloud will be less expensive, and we should be able to [better] adopt and be a little more agile of an environment if we do that," Acting DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen told reporters in September. "We'll be collecting facts to see if that's in fact the case, if we can be more agile and take advantage of what's happening in industry."
The department is increasingly using joint enterprise licensing agreements, which combine the purchasing power of multiple organizations to buy services that can be used across departments – rather than individuals and organizations purchasing their own, separately. JELAs are part of DoD's broader enterprise IT strategy.
"The operational component is part acquisition and looking at acquisition from a total cost of ownership as well as a lifecycle perspective and a simplicity perspective. That's critical as we move forward as a department," said Alfred Rivera, DISA acting director of strategic planning and information. "How do we do acquisitions that are benefitting not just a single community, but a whole [range of] communities? We have over 900 contracts at DISA that support multiple products, capabilities and services. The question is where does it make sense not only from DISA perspective, but a services perspective, where we can partner together and find common capabilities?"
In the near term, much of what happens in the cloud market will depend on the new directive from the DoD CIO office and DISA's cloud pilot programs, five of which are currently under way, noted Deltek's Alex Rossino.
Still, a handful of pending cloud acquisitions could show some indication of where the market is headed next.
The Navy is currently in source selection for a tactical cloud system for big data, advanced analytics and data science for naval warfare planning and execution. It's essentially a research and development contract for finding ways to use cloud for big data solutions in the tactical environment – an issue that largely has confounded much of the military so far. The other services also have voiced interest in similar cloud capabilities.
DISA currently is looking for commercial cloud service provider integration models, with an RFI seeking industry solutions that provide flexible cloud options inside the DoD firewall, core data centers or in containers. The RFI represents an early foray into commercial options for higher-sensitivity DoD data.
The Marine Corps also is exploring how it will use cloud service providers, including with an RFI released earlier this year seeking cloud support for its Global Combat Support System-Marine Corps program.
