DHS Office that Tracks Weapons of Mass Destruction Seeks Multilayer Cloud Environment

A little more than a year after being officially established, the Homeland Security Department’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, or CWMD, is looking to spin up its IT capabilities in the cloud.

The office—established December 2018—issued a request for information to gauge the market for supporting and upgrading the IT Mission Support Environment, which the solicitation calls the “backbone of the CWMD Information Architecture.” The RFI was fielded by the Rapid Capabilities Division—one of five divisions within CWMD, charged with fielding cutting-edge or sensitive tech and procurements, as well as the overall IT infrastructure used by the entire directorate.

“The CWMD Information Architecture will provide mission support applications, data feeds and cloud environments at different classification levels and security categorization levels,” according to the draft statement of work. “A full range of cloud software engineering services, system administration, cybersecurity services, cloud technical services, and supporting software will be required to take the CWMD Information Architecture to a fully functional mature capability.”

The statement of work outlines the deliverables in detail under each of those five areas.

The document also includes three optional cloud services areas, including providing a cloud application developer, system administrator and security support.

“The purpose of this RFI is to assist CWMD with identifying the number and nature of the entities that comprise the universe of feasible technical solution providers,” the document states.

The RFI—included in the statement of work as Attachment 2—includes 10 questions officials will use to gauge the marketplace. Responses are due by 2 p.m. Jan. 29.

The final contract is currently slated to start on Sept. 8, with a one-year base period and four one-year options, for a potential total of five years.