VA looks to NITAAC for cloud

The Department of Veterans Affairs has chosen a National Institutes of Health governmentwide acquisition contract for its cloud modernization project.

In a July 8 FedBizOpps , the VA said it hannouncementad determined that an NIH Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center contract vehicle was the solution for its Enterprise Cloud Services for IT Infrastructure Modernization acquisition strategy.

In April, the VA issued a request for information via FedBizOpps seeking to create a partnership with a cloud services broker -- a single provider that would act as a gateway to a range of cloud options from multiple vendors.

VA CIO LaVerne Council said the move to cloud services was part of the agency's "buy first" strategy, a push that covers network modernization, development platforms, infrastructure and enterprise software. Officials also wanted to move a range of IT functions to the cloud, including unified communications and data hosting.

Instead, VA appears to have shifted its strategy by opting to use NITAAC's vendor list as a starting point for its cloud procurement.

The VA maintains more than 365 data centers and 800 custom applications, and moving to the cloud is a way to simplify its portfolio and secure data and IT assets, Council said.

One example of a sprawling asset portfolio is the VA's homegrown electronic health records system VistA, which has more than 130 instances at separate locations. Reimagining VistA as a cloud-based system is an integral part of VA's planned shift to a digital health platform.

NITAAC's primary cloud services contract is CIO Commodities and Solutions. CIO-CS provides pre-competed contracts for IT products and services, and NIH said the contracting vehicle allows government customers to address federal policies, such as FedRAMP, with a five-year performance period and a potential $20 billion ceiling.

Government buyers can also use CIO-CS to access suppliers that offer software- and platform-as-a-service solutions.