Army nixes planned $10B agile software development contract

The Army has decided not to go ahead with a planned $10 billion contract for acquiring rapid software development services that was on pause for one month amid a review of the acquisition strategy.

No solicitation and no award of the New Modern Software Development contract vehicle will be forthcoming, the Army said in a Thursday Sam.gov notice.

MSD was set up to emphasize practices such as DevSecOps, agile, lean and continuous integration/continuous delivery. The contract was a brand new requirement with no incumbent.

Army officials put the contract on hold in February as part of a broader move to make sure this effort and others align with Trump administration priorities.

The cancellation notice for MSD appeared roughly six hours after we published this article Thursday on how the Army has also paused work on the emerging Marketplace for the Acquisition of Professional Services contract, which covers staff augmentation and technology support.

MAPS is on hold so the Army can review the potential impacts of a March 20 Trump executive order focused on efficiency in contracting, called “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement.”

MAPS combines requirements from two predecessor contracts that have totaled $12.4 billion in obligations since they opened for business in 2017 and 2018.