Take-off in 3, 2, 1…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spent a lot of time this past year reimagining their longstanding IT contract vehicle, Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading-Edge Solutions II (EAGLE II). EAGLE II is set to expire in 2020, and over the summer, the rumors were that it would be replaced by a FLASH/EAGLE hybrid contract vehicle, internally nicknamed Flashy Eagle. Instead, in December DHS announced that there would not be a formal recompete of EAGLE II. Rather, they announced that IT work will be competed using a combination of new and existing contract vehicles, dubbed as EAGLE Next Generation when viewed in their entirety.

The announcement listed six existing vehicles that would receive DHS IT work: General Services Administration’s Alliant 2, Alliant 2 Small Business, 8(a) STARS II, and VETS 2 as well as the National Institutes of Health’s CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business, all of which were added to the DHS portfolio on February 4th. Task orders also continue to compete through EAGLE II.

Capture2 has been watching these developments and released reports detailing the work being done on EAGLE II as well as each planned iteration of the new contract vehicle that will replace it. When the EAGLE Next Generation plans were announced, Capture2 noted that cloud migration was one area DHS planned to pursue in the next generation and that its NAICS description was outside the scope of the six IT contracts that are already being included under the EAGLE Next Gen umbrella.

The silhouette of a bird against a cloudy sky.

IT modernization and cloud migration Efforts are not slowing down.

Expect work to be shifted mainly to NAICS 541512 – Computer Systems Design Services in EAGLE Next Gen. However, Cloud Migration also falls under NAICS 518210, so this may be a space where an additional contract vehicle is created to meet the need in the EAGLE Next Gen suite.” (Capture 2 Intelligence Report, 12/28/18).

Last week, DHS confirmed this need, issuing an RFI under Eagle Next Generation for their IT modernization and cloud migration efforts. The RFI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Information Technology (IT), Compute and Storage Modernization, Cloud Migration and Data Center Optimization (Request for Information) (Solicitation Number: 70RTAC19RFI000001), is the first indication of a specialized contract vehicle in this umbrella that will be designed specifically to meet DHS needs. DHS is already undergoing a data center consolidation effort; this contract will introduce or improve efforts to include cloud migration in the undertaking.

DHS established a Cloud Steering Group (CSG) chaired by the Undersecretary of Management (currently Claire Grady). Per the RFI, “The CSG oversees the implementation of a federated, enterprise-wide strategy for accelerating the modernization and migration of our IT applications and infrastructure to the Cloud; and optimizing our remaining data centers by aligning their capabilities and economics, to the extent possible, with the Cloud. DHS is committed to a hybrid IT, multi-cloud, federated and vendor-neutral approach.” The themes for this effort are seen in the table below, taken from the opportunity RFI.

This RFI is a great example of the work that will be competed under the EAGLE Next Gen umbrella, and clearly defines the path DHS is taking to modernize its IT infrastructure. RFI respondents have the opportunity to help shape this effort. Responses to the RFI are due March 20 at 5:00 PM Eastern.

RFI Response Checklist

  • Mark down the response deadline on your calendar and get to work on your response ASAP!
  • Download the complete RFI from FBO or Capture2Proposal for all the details. Meetings may be held with respondents to help further shape this effort.
  • Make sure that you respond to all of the required questions in the RFI. There are 15 total sections of questions; responses are required for these ten: Sections A-G, I, K, and M.
  • Use the Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) Industry Liaison mailbox, email: [email protected] for any questions, and to submit your response.
    • Put the RFI number in the subject line of your email – use the link above, or add a reference to 70RTAC-19-R-FI00-0001 in your email
    • Include your contact information in the email, including the name, phone number, and email address for your effort’s POC
    • Limit your response to 25 pages max
    • Zip any file larger than 5 MB before sending