DISA may be key to consolidating the Pentagon's data centers

With the Defense Department seeking to save more than $1 billion a year by consolidating data centers and moving to enterprisewide IT systems, the Defense Information Systems Agency stands out as the logical centerpiece of the new arrangement, private sector analysts tell Nextgov.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday reiterated a strategy for Pentagon data center consolidation first laid out in August 2010, when in the name of budget cutting he announced plans for a stronger Office of the Chief Information Officer, saying, "under its umbrella, responsibility for daily operations will be assigned to the Defense Information Systems Agency."

Since then, the Army has signed an agreement with DISA to host all its e-mail, and DISA has declared itself "uniquely positioned" to become the leading provider of cloud computing services within Defense.

Cloud computing is gradually replacing the current structure built on accessing data and applications locally with a networked system that stores data in remote centers.

Gates last week expressed dissatisfaction with progress on data center consolidation and enterprise systems development, and said he expected to "to make a follow-on announcement with a specific plan of action by next month" as part of his departmentwide goal of saving another $50 billion from efficiencies.

Private sector analysts appear cautiously optimistic that DISA is the Pentagon's best bet. Bernie Skoch, an information technology consultant and retired Air Force brigadier general who served at DISA, said saving $1 billion from IT is a tall order that will require more than simply consolidating data centers and developing systems that serve users throughout the Defense Department. Real savings can be achieved through winnowing down the four services' duplicate applications, Skoch said. For example, Defense does not need numerous IT applications to track spare parts, nor does it need multiple personnel applications, he said.

Still, consolidating multiple data centers through DISA is the rational course to follow, Skoch said, if the agency can overcome a long history of lax efficiency. Recently, he said, he has seen signs of progress.

Skoch added that Gates also could hand the consolidation mission to the newly formed U.S Cyber Command, which, like DISA, operates under the umbrella of the U.S. Strategic Command.

An insider who declined to be identified told Nextgov he agreed with this scenario, saying DISA could end up with the consolidation mission, but under another name and structure.

Warren Suss, president of Suss Consulting, concurred that DISA could play a major role in IT consolidation along with the Cyber Command, but he said DISA faces skepticism from its customers within the services. DISA does not have to own and operate all the data centers to be a key player in consolidation, Suss said. It could simply set standards for their use, or serve as a type of traffic cop for applications hosted in a Navy data center for Army applications. (The DISA Bahrain data center, which serves users in the Mideast, is owned by the Navy.)

Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president of FedSources Inc., a provider of government market intelligence, said he could not think of another Defense organization that could handle the consolidation task and believed DISA "is in the catbird seat."