CIO signs contract with SAIC to manage suppliers in new environment
Chief Information Officer of the Commonwealth Nelson Moe has signed a contract with Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to serve as a multisourcing service integrator (MSI). This contract signing represents a significant step forward in VITA’s strategy to modernize the state’s technology infrastructure.
The company will coordinate and monitor multiple suppliers providing information technology (IT) infrastructure services for state executive branch agencies. The MSI is the cornerstone of a strategy that will diversify the state’s portfolio of suppliers, improve service delivery quality, ensure cost competitiveness and provide transparency and accountability into the commonwealth’s service delivery platform.
Moe, who also serves as agency head at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), said VITA and state agencies will begin working with SAIC on transition activities necessary to move work from one large, long-term contract to multiple, shorter-term contracts. Currently, all IT infrastructure services are provided by Northrop Grumman. The current contract with Northrop Grumman expires June 30, 2019, and cannot be extended.
“Our goal,” Moe said, “is to deliver uninterrupted, secure, agile, high-quality services at cost-competitive rates with transparency for customers and suppliers. We also want the ability to take advantage of new technologies in the rapidly changing world of IT. We are entering the next-generation of IT services for state agencies. Our work will have positive impacts for years to come on state government and its services to the commonwealth’s citizens, businesses and visitors.”
The overarching responsibilities of the MSI in the new environment include managing the following infrastructure functions:
• Integrated end-to-end infrastructure services overseeing multiple providers
• Projects and programs portfolio
• Technology planning
• Services measures
• Disaster recovery preparedness
• Infrastructure security and risk management
“VITA will continue working with state agencies. We will develop the IT infrastructure strategy and be responsible for oversight of the MSI and the services provided,” said Moe. “Also, VITA is the commonwealth’s consolidated technology services and solutions provider responsible for governance, security and oversight of major IT projects, and procurement of technology-related goods and services on behalf of state and local governments.”
Signing with an MSI is part of wave two of the state’s effort to move to a multi-sourced IT infrastructure environment. Wave one includes messaging and IBM mainframe: contracts have been awarded, and both projects are in the planning and implementation stages. Wave two also includes managed security services for which proposals from suppliers have been received and are under evaluation. Wave three includes server/storage, personal computers and data/voice networks. After researching the IT needs of agencies and the Commonwealth as a whole in 2015, an IT consulting firm recommended moving to a multisourcing model in waves to prepare for the end of the current contract. VITA accepted and is implementing the recommendations.
-Submitted by Nelson P. Moe, Chief Information Officer