DISA prepping RFP for Grid

DISA GIG-BE page

The Defense Information Systems Agency is planning to issue a request for proposals seeking hardware to boost the amount of high-speed bandwidth available to the military and intelligence communities.

The Global Information Grid Bandwidth Expansion (GIG-BE) is a cornerstone of the Defense Department chief information officer's vision for network-centric operations, in which data is posted on networks and made available departmentwide.

The hardware RFP should be issued by the "last week of May," said Anthony Montemarano, program director for GIG-BE services at DISA. It comes about two months after the agency issued an RFP for equipment and fiber to bring the enhanced bandwidth to more than 90 approved locations worldwide.

The project will enhance DOD's Defense Information System Network so that it can support OC-192 (10 gigabits/sec) of usable IP at all classification levels, bringing the intelligence and command and control communities onto a single architecture and infrastructure, Montemarano said.

Awards are expected for the fiber RFP before the end of this fiscal year, according to DISA officials. The hardware awards should be made in the first quarter of fiscal 2004, Montemarano said today at the AFCEA International conference in Washington, D.C.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Harry Raduege Jr., DISA director, said the GIG-BE project is on schedule to have one-third of the approved sites completed in fiscal 2004, with the rest operational the following year.

DOD's GIG-BE vision of a ubiquitous, secure, robust optical IP network supporting all information classification levels should be achieved in fiscal 2005 at the initial sites, Montemarano said, adding that it will expand in future years to more than 600 sites on the Defense Information System Network.