Interior previews $10B cloud contract recompete

The Interior Department has moved ahead on the recompete of a general cloud hosting contract awarded 10 years ago and wants industry to have its say on that plan.

But the department is also giving itself a great amount of runway before it advances to a final solicitation for the potential 10-year, $10 billion Foundation Cloud Hosting Services 2 contract that will have multiple winners.

A draft request for proposals went live on April 20 (this past Thursday) with a due date of April 27 (this coming Thursday) for feedback and comments on these four sections:

• Supplies, services and costs (Section B)
• Statement of work (Section C)
• Instructions, conditions and notices (Section L)
• Evaluation factors for award (Section M)

Responses on all other sections are due by the close of business on July 30.

FCHS 2 is the next iteration of what Interior awarded in 2013 to 10 technology integrators that provide cloud services across areas such as storage, file transfer, databases and testing. The department has since obligated approximately 55% of the overall ceiling, according to GovTribe data.

Interior plans to make between three and five awards without holding discussions with offerors. The department will do that by using a two-phase advisory down-select process to determine the winners.

Phase one will see a technical evaluation team look at all submissions and make recommendations to the contracting officer, which will then communicate the results to those who submitted bids and advise on their likelihood of award.

Separate to FCHS 2, Interior is also working to award a potential $1 billion contract more focused on the virtual data center aspect of where the department wants to go regarding its cloud migration goals. Proposals for the Cloud Hosting Solutions III contract were due in November.