DISA said it would conduct market research, make a new acquisition approach decision, and develop a new acquisition plan after GDIT filed a protest with GAO.
The Defense Information Systems Agency is seeking industry input on its plan to migrate all combatant commands’ common-use IT services to the Defense Department Network after General Dynamics Information Technology challenged the agency’s decision to expand Leidos’ $11 billion Defense Enclave Services contract to perform the work.
After DoD directed DISA to transition all combatant commands to the DoDNet — the single DISA-managed environment — the agency said that the Defense Enclave Services contract, which was awarded to Leidos to support defense agencies and field activities’ network modernization efforts, was “the only viable contracting alternative” due to accelerated migration timelines.
GDIT then filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office, arguing that the agency should have competed the new work.
The bid protest was recently dismissed after the agency indicated it would conduct new market research, make a new acquisition approach decision, develop a new acquisition plan and take any additional corrective action deemed necessary.
DISA launched the market research portion of the corrective action Monday, addressing one of GDIT’s complaints that the agency failed to conduct adequate market research before deciding that the Enclave contract expansion was the only option due to the prime contractor’s “embedded, specialized knowledge of the DoDNet architecture.” The agency had previously received a waiver from the head of the contracting activity allowing it to forgo market research.
“The migration of the combatant commands customers to the DoDNet … is a new requirement. A similar and related migration of the defense agencies and field activities to the DoDNet single service provider environment is already underway. This requirement must be executed in parallel, and without disturbing ongoing DAFA migrations,” the sources sought notice said.
The sources sought notice makes no mention of GDIT’s protest or the agency’s corrective action as the reason for conducting market research. Instead, the notice points to a May 22 directive from DoD Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies to move the combatant commands to DoDNet.
A source familiar with the matter told Federal News Network that while the sources sought notice is a positive first step, it is too early to tell whether DISA is seriously evaluating different procurement approaches.
One of the concerning signs is an extremely short response timeline for the sources sought notice. DISA released the notice on July 27 and gave industry until Aug. 4 to respond. A six-day response window is typically not the market standard for allowing industry to prepare thorough, detailed responses.
In addition, market research followed by requests for information, industry days and iterative engagement not just with industry, but also with the combatant commands themselves, would show that DISA is willing to reconsider their current approach.
According to the sources sought notice, DISA plans to migrate 11 combatant commands to DoDNet by the end of fiscal 2028. The effort would impact approximately 231,000 users across 200 sites worldwide. Required technical capabilities critical to the effort include identity, credential and access management, zero trust architecture, infrastructure as code automation and automation scripts, as well as migration methodologies and runbooks.
DISA is also asking companies to explain how they would migrate all 11 combatant command migrations by the mandated Sept. 30, 2028, deadline, identify schedule risks and technical dependencies, and describe how they would accelerate migrations while minimizing duplication of government costs.
The source familiar with the matter acknowledged the urgency of moving all combatant commands to a single environment, but argued that it should not come at the expense of thorough planning. They also questioned why DISA is just now conducting market research on an initiative that has been underway since 2019.
“What has been going on in the last seven years to prepare for, solicit input from industry and do analysis regarding this incredibly complex and sensitive effort? We’re talking about mission critical services that are reliant on the network and IT infrastructure at each of these geographic and functional combatant commands, and we are also talking about it against the backdrop of two active conflicts in Europe and in the Middle East. 2028 is a date on the calendar. What’s important is that this be done right,” the source said.
It is also too early to determine whether DoDNet is prepared to support the combatant commands.
“Because this has been an initiative that’s existed in kind of a conceptual state only for so long, a lot more work has to be done to ensure that a solid migration plan is in place and whether the environment itself is therefore optimized and ready to receive these combatant commands,” the source said.
DISA estimates that a procurement would take roughly 220 days from solicitation release to contract award.
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