No competition for private intell cloud contract

The Defense Information Systems Agency has awarded a $45 million contract to Alliance Technology Group for private cloud services for an intelligence agency without conducting a competition.

In itsjustification document for the no-compete procurement, DISA describes a need for an ISR – intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance – cloud for large data object storage and that Alliance Technology, a small business in Hanover, Md., is the only company capable of meeting the requirements.

Some of the company’s unique attributes include a location with suitable bandwidth, an ability to support all data types, meeting standards and geospatial search capabilities, according to the justification for other than full and open competition document.

Several areas in the justification document are blacked out including the location of the private cloud facility. The ultimate customer DISA is buying the cloud services for also is blacked out.

The document states that DISA wants an ability to store large amounts of data in a secure environment and access it across networks. There is a need to store “hundreds of billions of objects.” DISA can’t provide cloud storage in the Defense Enterprise Computer Centers because of the size of the necessary hardware.

DISA also doesn’t have the funding to buy the hardware or storage facility needed to develop its own large data object storage, according to the document.

Alliance Technology will provide some of the storage with containerized mass storage units. Each will need to be self-contained and sealed so minimum maintenance is required. The containers also can be stacked three high and grouped as needed, the document says.

Before determining that Alliance Technology is the sole-source of the needed services, DISA said it conducted market research and talked to industry about data processing, storage, communications and content delivery.

“The results of the market research identified Alliance Technology Group [blacked out portion of text] as the sole contractor with ability to provide an integrated, secure and geographically acceptable solution,” the justification document states.

According to its website, Alliance Technology specializes in IT infrastructure, cloud computing and professional services. For its modular data center offerings it works with Hewlett-Packard, SGI and IO Data Centers LLC.

The company’s private cloud solutions also meet FedRAMP and ISIMC requirements, according to its website.

Some of the company’s federal contracts include prime spots on SEWP IV, the General Services Administration’s Schedule 70 and a Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center multiple-award contract.

The DISA contract is a blanket purchase agreement for one year, with two one-year options.