Dell EMC and industry partners win $1bn USAF contract

Dell EMC, General Dynamics, and Microsoft have secured a $1bn contract to advance the US Air Force’s (USAF) IT transformation.

The contract was awarded by the General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service in Denver, Colorado, US.

Under the five-year contract, the companies will implement a Cloud-Hosted Enterprise Services (CHES) programme to improve efficiency and agility, encourage innovation, and generate cost savings across the airforce's information technology enterprise.

The CHES is a follow-on to the USAF’s IT transformation initiative that was launched in 2015 and will deploy Microsoft Office 365, including email, productivity tools, as well as communications.

Microsoft US Defense general manager Leigh Madden said: "The CHES contract extends the ability of the airforce to collaborate across the enterprise.

"We aren't just delivering a secure productivity solution, we're freeing up resources so our airmen can focus on mission-critical tasks."

“We aren't just delivering a secure productivity solution, we're freeing up resources so our airmen can focus on mission-critical tasks."

Under CHES, up to 776,000 users will be provided with information, communications, email, collaboration services, office productivity, and records management.

The Defense Logistics Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers will be among additional government users to benefit from CHES.

The USAF aims to roll out the entire programme in under a year, allowing the services to focus on their core mission and reduce costs as data centres are consolidated under this effort.

Dell EMC Consulting Services is responsible for migrating the communications and collaboration systems, as well as application profiling services to assess applications for cloud suitability, migration or retirement.