Virtual Pentagon notice filed

CCSP request for proposals

The Pentagon Renovation Program Office has issued the $400 million notice to bidders for its program to create a virtual Pentagon that would provide backup networks and communications so that senior officials could continue to carry out their jobs even in the event of a disaster at the building.

The notice issued Aug. 14 mirrors a presolicitation notice that the Pentagon Renovation Program Office issued late last month for its Command Communications Survivability Program.

The goal of the program is to ensure "redundancy, survivability, recoverability, manageability, availability, scalability, and security" for the systems that serve the Pentagon, the notice says.

Although Defense Department officials were able to continue doing their work from the Pentagon after the terrorist attack on the building Sept. 11, they found that the computing environment has vulnerabilities — applications or databases that, if removed, could not be recovered and critical network links that, if down, could not be worked around.

In response, as part of the Pentagon repairs, DOD is working to create a "virtual Pentagon" that will ensure continuity of operations.

The idea is to eliminate the need to be in a particular location to access critical data. The virtual Pentagon plan will create redundancies so that the network is available regardless of where the Pentagon might be damaged.

Just like the presoliciatation notice, the notice states that there will be a two-phase procurement process. A request for qualification will be issued to interested parties. The government then will narrow the field to as many as three vendors, who will then participate in the second phase.

The request for qualification will be issued within a month, the notice says.