Top 100: Dell's depth, breadth drive federal growth

Dell had a “spectacular” year in the Federal sector in 2014 by leveraging its broad spectrum of end-to-end-capabilities, open systems solutions and strong focus on comprehensive customer service, according to Steve Harris, vice president and general manager for Dell Federal.

Its performance, landed the company at No. 21 on the 2015 Top 100 with $1.3 billion in prime contracting dollars.

“We are very, very bullish on our business in general, but particularly within the federal space,” Harris said. “We’re off to a very strong start this year and we have a growing business.”

With its acquisition of Quest Software in 2012, Dell also inherited a large group of existing federal customers and partners, and it has built on that success. Harris said that Dell Federal is, as of 2015, doing work in some capacity for all federal agencies. That work ranges from providing cybersecurity solutions, data center capabilities and infrastructure management and optimization to big data analytics, managed services and IT modernization.

In 2014, Dell drew on this diverse offering to win several key contracts. For example, the company was chosen by the Homeland Security Department and the General Services Administration to provide agencies with IT services and solutions worth up to $22 billion.

Northrop Grumman also turned to Dell and its data center solutions, including servers, storage and workstations, to help power the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System’s high-performance ground control system. The X47B is the first unmanned air system (UAS) that can take off and land on an aircraft carrier, In April, it made aviation history by successfully conducting the first autonomous aerial refueling of a UAS.

“We’ve helped deliver lower costs and improve on the timeline by using a COTS solution instead of what was previously a custom solution for unmanned systems,” said Harris, noting that the Northrop Grumman and Dell team will also be able to maintain and sustain the technology over the life of the program and leverage the solution across other UAS platforms.

In 2014, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awarded Dell a five-year, $120 million contract to supply comprehensive IT infrastructure, application and user support services that enable efficiencies and ensure that CDC scientists and administrators have the highest levels of IT capability and support.

Harris said that Dell’s strong commitment to customer service came into play this past summer as the CDC worked to combat the global Ebola epidemic. Officials needed to scale its field operations as quickly as possible, and Dell responded by donating notebooks and other computing equipment to the CDC Foundation.

“We have a very, very close relationship with CDC, and we wanted to go the extra mile and make sure that we’re doing all we can to make sure help them accomplish their mission,” Harris said. “They asked for help and within a span of a few weeks, we were able to respond with whatever they needed to make those field environments viable so they could respond effectively to the Ebola crisis.”

Dell’s end-to-end capability, combined with the government’s efforts to move away from proprietary solutions to open, scalable and more affordable, secure solutions, will help the company continue to steadily grow its federal business in 2015 and beyond, predicts Harris.

“There’s a great deal of value in terms of keeping this entire portfolio of capabilities together, having a single point of customer contact who’s responsible for and deeply understanding of that customer’s mission and then drawing on this end-to-end portfolio of capabilities to create as much value as possible,” he said. “It aligns very well with supporting the government’s need to address its IT needs through modern platforms, services and solutions.”