Jane Edwards
The General Services Administration is soliciting questions, recommendations and comments on a draft performance work statement for the Ascend blanket purchase agreement that seeks to meet the common cloud requirements of defense and federal civilian agencies.
GSA plans to award the Ascend BPA through a phased approach as part of the agency’s Cloud Marketplace vision, which intends to empower agencies to build and implement cloud acquisition strategies at the enterprise level to meet their cybersecurity and information technology requirements, according to a notice published Monday.
The BPA is divided into three pools and the first pool focuses on awardees offering infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service cloud computing platforms. The second pool focuses on software-as-a-service offerings and the third pool on cloud IT professional services.
Ascend will also prioritize cybersecurity supply chain risk management and resiliency through the creation of minimum cyber baseline for customers to ensure that their cloud platforms comply with cybersecurity regulations, policies and standards.
GSA will accept feedback and questions on the draft PWS through June 6.
