The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awarded Booz Allen Hamilton big money to continue work on the agency’s zero trust network access and application security architecture, Thunderdome, according to a July 28 announcement.
The contract is a follow-on production other transaction authority (OTA) agreement as DISA prepares to transition Thunderdome from the prototyping to the production phase.
“While DISA leverages these capabilities on our cyber terrain, this full-scale production agreement can be used to assist the military services and other DoD components in implementing key zero-trust activities,” said Lt. Gen. Robert J. Skinner, DISA director.
The announcement did not include how much the contract was worth. However, a DISA spokesperson confirmed that “the total agreement ceiling is $1.86 billion.”
“This award has been structured as an indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity-like award so other [Department of Defense (DoD)] agencies and military departments can leverage the agreement over the five-year period of performance,” the spokesperson told MeriTalk.
Under this follow-on agreement, Booz Allen Hamilton will broadly implement and operate Thunderdome’s zero trust network access and application security architecture.
This follows the completion of an 18-month prototype, also conducted by Booz Allen Hamilton. In January 2022, DISA awarded the company a $6.8 million prototype contract. In March 2023, Booz Allen Hamilton produced a prototype of Thunderdome and laid “a zero-trust technology foundation,” according to DISA.
“The experience gained in partnership with industry as we implemented the prototype solution over the last 18 months has been invaluable, and we believe this award positions the department to meet critical zero trust adoption timelines in support of our warfighters,” said Christopher Barnhurst, DISA deputy director.
“Awarding this Thunderdome production agreement is an important step on our zero-trust journey and furthers DISA’s mission to provide warfighters with a more secure operating environment,” said Skinner.
According to DISA, Thunderdome will harden the DoD’s networks and help warfighters defend against adversarial activity by employing network and resource access tools and segmentation technologies. Thunderdome capabilities are also closely aligned with the DoD’s Zero Trust Strategy.
