Light To Guide Our Feet Victory Bulletin - U. S. General Services Administration Puts Call Out to Industry for Cloud-Based Email Solutions

U. S. General Services Administration Puts Call Out to Industry for Cloud-Based Email Solutions

GSA to provide federal agencies the tools and resources needed to meet Obama administration’s goal of a more cost-efficient, sustainable government

WASHINGTON - - (May 11, 2011) - - The U.S. General Services Administration released a request for quotation to provide government agencies with access to secure, cost-efficient cloud-based email solutions. The RFQ is for the first of GSA’s Integrated Email as a Service (EaaS) cloud offerings, designed to increase the speed of agency adoption, deployment, and implementation of cloud technology.

“GSA’s cloud offering will provide agencies with an easily accessed email and collaboration platform to better support agencies’ missions and mobile work forces at a reduced cost,” said GSA Administrator Martha N. Johnson. “Cloud solutions will help agencies significantly cut costs and provide an easy and secure means for agencies to meet the administration’s mandates for migrating IT services to the cloud.”

EaaS solutions will allow agencies to purchase cloud services without the added cost of infrastructure maintenance, lowering the cost of government email and collaboration services. The technology will enable agencies to access email and collaboration applications over the Internet from any location.

“GSA is providing government agencies with easy access to cost-saving, high-value, more efficient technology solutions by doing a major part of the procurement process up front,” said Commissioner Steven J. Kempf of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service.

The Obama administration has challenged federal agencies across government to close the information technology gap with the private sector to provide a more efficient, cost-effective government for the American people. To accomplish this vision, federal agencies are required to identify and migrate three IT capabilities to the cloud within 18 months. In December, GSA became the first federal agency to announce it was moving its email to the cloud agencywide.

“For too long, the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars were wasted on IT projects that failed to leverage advances in technology and our bulk purchasing power to achieve savings. Cloud-based disruptive solutions are critical to the administration’s IT reform agenda to end the waste and deliver better service for less,” said U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra.

The request for quotation will be issued via eBuy on IT Schedule 70 and will be open to current schedule holders. GSA anticipates awarding multiple blanket purchase agreements against the IT Schedule 70. Prior to making EaaS products and services available, GSA must complete a thorough technical evaluation process, which will conclude with an award to an as yet undetermined number of vendors.

Courtesy U.S. General Services Administration

Light To Guide Our Feet Victory Bulletin [LTGOFVB May 2011]