The Army wants to experiment with IT as a Service

The Army is searching for an industry partner to fulfill Enterprise Information Technology as a Service (EITaaS) needs and released a prototype project opportunity notice to that end July 9.

Final proposals are due Aug. 9. The Army expects to award up to three prototype contracts through other transaction agreements.

The idea of EITaaS follows the belief that commercial IT companies can better handle the day-to-day tasks associated with information technology than an internal IT staff, some of who may not have the training or expertise necessary for a massive enterprise. As a result, staff traditionally assigned to IT tasks can be freed up for more specific tasks.

The Air Force is also pursuing an EITaaS solution.

The Army’s notice comes after a three-month process that began with vendors self-qualifying against eight government-chosen capabilities that are necessary for a prime contractor, the notice said. This means competitors must be able to add a surge capacity of about 10,000 users in 45 days or less and an increased customer base of about 1.3 million users over four years. They must also be able to implement identity access management and integration with other cloud service providers, the FedBizOpps listing said.