Focusing On Defense 

By Jeff Erlichman

As Defense budgets trend downward, saving money while being more efficient and dynamic are today’s watchwords.

The massive 800 pound gorilla Defense IDIQ contracts that took years to put together and were often marred and delayed by protests have seen their day come and go.

Because budgets are trending down, saving money and being more efficient and dynamic are today’s watchwords. Being quicker and faster is a mentality the services must embrace. Plus officials must find ways to service the needs of the new generation of Millennials that view Google, Facebook and social networking “new media” tools and applications as not new, but commonplace every day tools.

Contracts such as DISA Encore and Air Force NETCENTS have flexibility built in and can be used DOD-wide. Services offered on Encore, Netcents, ITES-2S often overlap in scope (e.g. Enterprise IT Planning, IT Support Services). 

That gives Defense buyers a wide variety of contracts they can use. So, even though 80% of CHESS business comes from the Army and the same is true with the Air Force and Netcents, there are other vehicles available.

A short sampling of current and future contracts and portals available for use by Defense IT buyers include:

DISA DITCO (Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization)
Visit www.ditco.disa.mil.

Here you will find information on: ordering IT Supplies/Services; IT Supplies and Services; collections of contractor past performance information; COR & TM review of proposals; Telecommunication Inventory Billing Information; Customer Reports such as inventory reports, supporting documents for bills, and other miscellaneous reports and data.

DISA Direct
Visit www.disadirect.disa.mil/products/asp/welcome.asp.

Here you’ll find DISA’s ordering suite of tools for requesting telecommunication products and services. All persons requiring access to DISA Direct to place orders are required to create a User ID and then utilize the Registration tool to obtain the appropriate role for access to the various DISA Direct tools. The DISA Direct goal is to provide customers “with one stop to gather information about the products/services offered by DISA, place orders to acquire these products/services, and perform life-cycle management of these assets.”

DISA ENCORE II (2008 - 2013)
Visit www.ditco.disa.mil/hq/contracts/encorchar.asp.

This is a five year, $12.2 billion IT support contract for global network-centric services. 12 small businesses were chosen to provide services to improve situational awareness by enhancing how the military services share information.

According to DISA, Encore will provide network engineering services, analytical support for buying and installing IT systems, and a way to buy various products, including hardware. The program supports command and control, intelligence and mission-support areas, and the Global Information Grid.

Army CHESS (Computing Hardware and Enterprise Software: 2006 - 2016)
Visit https://chess.army.mil.

On May 4 2009, the Army reiterated that CHESS is to be the primary source for Army buyers purchasing COTS IT hardware and software including desktops, notebook computers and video teleconferencing equipment regardless of dollar value. All Army personnel responsible for making such purchases should review the memo, which can be downloaded from the CHESS website.

Army ITES-2S and Army ITES-2H
Visit https://chess.army.mil.

Also under the CHESS umbrella is the Army’s Information Technology Enterprise Solutions IDIQ runs from 2006-2015. This is a $20 billion follow-on agreement with 16 vendors to meet task order requests for a broad range of IT services and solutions central to the Army’s drive to develop a global network-centric enterprise. The program is a sibling of the ITES-2H hardware contract for servers, storage and other infrastructure components.

Navy SeaPort
Visit http://www.seaport.navy.mil/default.aspx

SeaPort-e is the Navy's electronic platform for acquiring support services in 22 functional areas including Engineering, Financial Management, and Program Management. 

The Navy Systems Commands (NAVSEA, NAVAIR, SPAWAR, NAVFAC, and NAVSUP), the Office of Naval Research, the United States Marine Corp, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) compete their service requirements amongst 1800+ SeaPort-e IDIQ multiple award contract holders. 

The SeaPort-e portal provides a standardized, efficient means of soliciting offers from amongst the diverse population of large and small businesses and their approved team members.  All task orders are competitively solicited, awarded and managed using the SeaPort-e platform.  Since nearly 85% of its contract-holders are small businesses, the SeaPort-e approach to acquiring services provides opportunity that fuels the Nation's engine of job growth.

Air Force NETCENTS
Visit: http://public.gunter.af.mil/aq/NETCENTS/default.aspx

The Air Force NETCENTS contract is a multiple award, IDIQ product, service, and total solutions contract. The contract provides the Air Force, DOD, and other Federal agencies a primary source of networking equipment and system engineering, installation, integration, operations, and maintenance.

NETCENTS was slated to expire at the end of FYO9. However an extended ordering period using the eight current contract holders is now in place. The extension runs through September 2010, to include one option year period through Sept 9, 2011, with a period of performance through September 9, 2012.

Without this bridge, the Air Force says there would be significant risk to AF and DOD networks if NETCENTS 1 is not extended to bridge the gap between it and NETCENTS 2.  The bridge ensures solutions being implemented will be standards based contracts and not conflict with AF and DOD vision and policy for standard, secure and interoperable architectures across the various Mission Areas.