CIA Competing Single-Award Cloud Integration Contract: Top 20

Just weeks after announcing the winners of its multibillion-dollar Cloud Computing Enterprise (C2E) contract, the Central Intelligence Agency is working on a second solicitation for cloud integration and support services to stitch the massive multi-cloud environment together.

The CIA plans to issue a single-award for a contract dubbed Cloud Integration and Multi-Cloud Management (CIMM), according to a draft statement of work posted to the intelligence community’s Acquisition Resource Center (ARC).

The CIA’s CIMM contract is the focus of this week’s BGOV Top 20 Opportunities. The agency hasn’t yet provided an estimated dollar value of the contract. Based on its proposed scope and the size of the C2E program — reportedly “tens of billions” of dollars — Bloomberg Government expects CIMM could generate between $1 billion and $5 billion over its possible seven-year lifespan.

The acquisition will provide cloud brokerage, multi-cloud management, customer outreach, and governance services, enabling U.S. intelligence agencies to take advantage of services offered by C2E’s five awardees: Amazon Web Services Inc., Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Oracle Corp., and Google Inc.

On Nov. 20, the CIA announced it had awarded contracts to “multiple industry partners” for cloud infrastructure, platforms, and software, though a spokesman declined to disclose how many companies had received awards or who the awardees were. Representatives from Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, and Google have each separately confirmed their participation in the C2E program.

The CIMM contract holder, most likely an IT systems integrator with extensive experience partnering with defense and intelligence agencies, will be tasked with serving as intermediary between intelligence agencies and cloud providers, with providing outreach and training on various cloud services, and delivering regular reporting on the C2E program’s performance, according to the statement of work.

An accompanying pre-solicitation notice directs prospective bidders to respond by Dec. 7 with details regarding their multi-cloud management experience:

• Working with some or all of the five C2E cloud vendors listed above
• Managing multi-cloud environments at the unclassified, Secret, and Top Secret levels
• Providing cloud implementation and advisory services
• Delivering cloud performance monitoring and optimization tools
• Maintaining a cloud community of practice and providing governance services

With the C2E program expected to generate billions of dollars over the next decade or more, the CIMM contract – even if it amounts to a fraction of the total value – will be highly competitive contract sought among dozens of federal cloud integrators. Its winner-take-all status will make it a high-stakes contest, despite its low public profile. An analysis of Bloomberg Government’s market definition for Cloud Services indicates that a handful of cloud integrators stand out as possible front-runners.

Over the last five years, only four contractors have earned more than $1 billion in cloud-related IT and professional services (excluding cloud software purchases): Perspecta Inc. ($1.5 billion), Leidos Holdings Inc. ($1.4 billion), T-Rex Solutions LLC ($1.3 billion), and General Dynamics Corp. ($1.3 billion). The next closest vendor is By Light Professional IT Services Inc. with $601 million over that span.

Of the four, Leidos has the largest footprint among defense agencies, including assisting the U.S. Air Force to stand up the Common Computing Environment (CCE). Perspecta and General Dynamics each have diverse cloud portfolios with extensive experience at the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Defense. Despite lacking defense-related cloud experience, T-Rex Solutions is coming off a major win having served as the primary IT systems integrator for the 2020 Census.

The winning vendor must be capable of performing at least 60% of the requirements on its own, according to the notice. But with such an expansive scope, there may be plentiful opportunities for smaller vendors to carve out work as subcontractors.

The CIMM pre-solicitation notice and statement of work are available on the ARC portal. The ARC offers access to unclassified acquisition materials, but requires users to register for an account to log in.

To contact the analyst on this story: Chris Cornillie in Washington at ccornillie@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Snyder at dsnyder@bgov.com