In a push to modernize its global computing infrastructure and reduce long-term costs, Headquarters, Department of the Army (HQDA) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) partnered with Army Contracting Command – Rock Island to host an Industry Day for the Enterprise Virtualization Rapid Integration Solution (EVRIS).
On 30 July, Mr. Gabe Chiulli, Acting CIO and Dr. Markowitz, Deputy CIO, opened the virtual event that brought together over 60 and 170 participants. The collaborative session provided industry partners with an in-depth look at the current Call for Solutions (CFS), highlighting key areas of interest, and outlining the submission process to ensure participants are equipped to prepare effective and compliant proposals.
The Challenge: Operating at Global Scale
The Army operates a massive, globally distributed network with more than 750,000 endpoints. This infrastructure spans enterprise, regional, edge, and tactical environments. It requires seamless functionality across connected and disconnected domains, multiple security classifications, and logically or physically separated environments, including air-gapped systems and cross-domain boundaries.
Currently, the Army is seeking a new, multi-vendor approach to break vendor lock-in and provide cost effective solutions. Future solutions must enable modular, consumption-based scaling and support the seamless migration of existing workloads without causing operational disruption to the warfighter.
The Solution: Diversifying the Portfolio
To meet these complex demands, the Department of the Army issued the EVRIS CFS to acquire innovative commercial virtualization software solutions and associated services. The primary goals are to diversify the Army's enterprise virtualization portfolio, stimulate market competition, and ultimately reduce the Total Cost of Ownership across its global computing estate.
The Government intends to award multiple Enterprise Contracts accessible across the entire Army, with strategic plans to scale these solutions to the broader Department of War. Awards resulting from this CFS may utilize Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) contracts or non-FAR agreements, such as Other Transaction authority, in accordance with Commercial Solutions Opening guidelines.
Maximizing Industry Partnerships
Events like the EVRIS Industry Day are critical milestones in the defense acquisition lifecycle. These events serve as a platform for the Army to communicate program requirements, schedules, and acquisition strategies directly to the commercial sector.
By facilitating market research and gathering direct feedback on capabilities and market trends, the Army can better align industry solutions with critical mission needs while fostering transparent, open communication with its commercial partners.
Next Steps
Phase One (1) of the EVRIS Call for Solutions was officially posted on 27 July and is located on the SAM.gov website here.
Points of contact are available on the SAM.gov website.
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