Coast Guard looking for input on data, cloud services to support intelligence enterprise
The U.S. Coast Guard is making moves to acquire new cloud technology and looking for infrastructure-as-a-service to support its intelligence requirements.
The Coast Guard posted a request for information detailing a range of services it’s in need of in support of its move to the cloud — one of its top tech priorities in the coming year. The guard is primarily looking to improve data management and international network communications, and wants to know who can develop new capabilities and sustain the service’s current legacy analytics systems.
In specific, the guard is hoping to find a vendor to deliver data services “as-a-service” for its intelligence enterprise, meaning that the development and sustainment of systems would be handled wholly by a private sector company. Services the Coast Guard would potentially need from a vendor range from cloud support to webpage development, according to the RFI.
One of the current systems in place the guard needs support on is the Maritime Analytic Support System, which provides enterprise maritime data distribution. Current data analytics are done through IBM’s i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis tool, a commercial-off-the-shelf product.
The RFI comes as the service is looking to upgrade decades-old IT and migrate data to cloud environments, Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said on Feb. 20 during the “State of the Coast Guard” address. The service also laid out a five-year plan to modernize its digital services in February, including key goals of increasing connectivity between cutters and divesting from legacy systems.
“The Coast Guard of tomorrow must operate beyond brick and mortar,” Shultz said. “Years of investment tradeoffs have brought our information technology to the brink of catastrophic failure.”
The RFI notes the anticipated award date, if it progresses to a contract, is Sept. 30.
