Air Force signs with Lockheed for Microsoft products
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The Air Force has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin Corp. to provide the service with Microsoft Corp. products at discounted prices over three years. More than 300,000 Air Force users are expected to benefit from the new volume discount agreement that will be a part of Lockheed Martin's Global Combat Support System–Air Force contract.
The Air Force has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin Corp. to provide the service
with Microsoft Corp. products at discounted prices over three years.
More than 300,000 Air Force users are expected to benefit from the new volume discount
agreement that will be a part of Lockheed Martins Global Combat Support
SystemAir Force contract.
The service estimates that it will save more than $17 million over General Services
Administration prices and an additional $15 million if the Air Force meets high-volume
targets negotiated with Lockheed Martin.
The Air Forces discounted prices are based on buys measured in increments of
100,000 users per year spread over three years.
Our price breaks occur at the 100,000-, 200,000- and 300,000-user levels
respectively, said Lt. Col. Glenn Taylor, director of the Standard Systems
Groups Commercial Information Technology Product Area Directorate (CITPAD) at Gunter
Annex, Ala. If we dont reach 300,000 users by the third year, then we
wont obtain all the savings.
SSG in late June created CITPAD to consolidate the Air Forces IT acquisition
vehicles to get the best products and prices for its customers by leveraging the
services buying power. The cost-cutting initiative covers hardware and software, as
well as services.
Before this agreement we really had just a hodgepodge of acquisition vehicles to
buy these software products, Taylor said. We had no central approach for
buying. Thats one of the advantages that we brought to the table with this
offering.
CITPADs goal under the agreement is to consolidate as many orders as possible by
Air Force major commands and organizations, Taylor said. The Air Combat Command and Air
Force Materiel Command were involved in the agreement from the start to ensure that its
Microsoft configurations met the needs of the warfighters, he said.
The deal lets Air Force users pay for licenses, upgrades and maintenance over a
three-year enrollment period. Three separate Microsoft product sets are available as part
of the agreement: basic, standard and enhanced configurations.
The basic configuration, priced at $405, has Microsoft Office as well as client-access
licenses for Microsoft Windows NT and Exchange. The standard configuration, at $594,
includes the basic configuration products plus Windows 95, Windows 98, NT and Windows
Systems Management Server client-access licenses. The enhanced configuration, at $632, has
the standard configuration products plus full BackOffice capability.
The agreement also includes Microsoft server products.
The agreement includes additional licenses for using the products in our
laboratory environments and more flexible terms for using licenses when we deploy,
Taylor said.
The previous procedures for providing deployed Air Force units with upgraded software
products were too cumbersome, Taylor said. The new agreement has special terms for
deployed units, giving them the ability to upgrade from one configuration to another, he
said.
An added benefit of the agreement is that it fosters an servicewide common operating
environment for PCs, Taylor said. By buying a common suite of Microsoft products, Air
Force users will ultimately improve interoperability, he said.
GCSS-AF was the natural vehicle of choice because its whole reason for being is
to create a PC common operation environment and make it available to everybody in the Air
Force, Taylor said.
For more information on the agreement, visit Lockheed Martins Web site at http://www.owego.com/gcss-af/catalog/catalog.html
or call CITPAD at 334-416-1371.