What cloud environments does DLA have now? Should we only use those cloud service providers?

DLA primarily uses MS Azure. To a lesser degree, we also use AWS. Offerors are not required or 

expected to use those cloud offerings for the T&E effort. The government is agnostic on the T&E cloud 

environment. There are benefits and drawbacks to diversity! Whatever you offer, be ready to explain 

those tradeoffs. Offerors should understand that most production work will occur in Azure and be able 

to help us understand the level of effort to move from the T&E space to our production (Azure) 

environment.

Does DLA expect any integrations between the T&E environment and existing production systems?

Unlikely. The intent of this effort is to create an environment to test and evaluate software rapidly. 

Integrating into existing production systems would be lengthy and require a signification review for 

cybersecurity and/or operations security risks. The one exception to this could be an Active Directory 

integration for the purpose of account management. 

What technical/cybersecurity approvals and controls does DLA expect to need for this environment?

Any computing environments supporting this effort will require some level of technical and/or 

cybersecurity review once awarded. The specifics for this are unclear and won’t be known until we 

review the proposed solutions. An Authority to Operate for the environment itself is expected but not 

for each individual software evaluation. NIST 800-53 will be a part of this evaluation but beyond that is 

solution and use case dependent. The specific control and configuration requirements will be 

collaboratively determined after award.

Will DLA provide the software licenses for the evaluation software?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. The first use case is TBD we’ll use whichever option has the best mix of 

speed and value to DLA. As this process becomes more mature, DLA will likely ask the awardee(s) to

acquire licenses and/or suggest software for evaluation purposes as a main feature of a consolidated 

business process prototype. Mostly, we seek to be flexible, so DLA reserves the right to get licenses on 

its own or work through the awardee(s). In all things, we’ll be collaborative.

What type of data will be used in this environment? 

When possible, DLA seeks to use “real” data for to get an accurate user evaluation of a software 

solution. Depending on the sensitivity level, that may slow down a particular T&E effort or force us to 

choose a different effort. If we sought to use primarily “dummy” data, this effort would be vastly overengineered! 

How should the environment and/or software be configured and deployed?

Awardees will provide recommendations for environment and software installs. DLA will consider all 

approaches and be open to different methods for achieving the end goal. The OTA methodology is 

designed to be collaborative and iterative by its’ nature. If an offeror has a novel approach to meeting 

the objective that meets DLA/DoD guidelines, we will absolutely consider it!
What kind of partnership is DLA looking for with its awardee(s)?

DLA is looking to build a rapid project team with team members from DLA and the awardee. This team 

will create a DoD-like environment and use awardee expertise to create a roadmap for expedited testing 

and evaluation. The effect of this partnership will improve DLA’s ability to obtain user-feedback during 

software evaluations before full-scale acquisitions, and potentially provide follow-on production 

opportunities for the awardee to deploy the software into the enterprise DLA environment.

How large of a user capacity do you anticipate?

We do not anticipate hundreds of simultaneous users. We will begin with a small number (10s) and with 

limited use cases, until scaling for increased capacity at a later date.

What is the scaling potential?

See solicitation for examples. 

Do offerors need security clearances? All work will be performed at the unclassified level.

Are offerors expected to conduct usability evaluations or provide UI/UX resources?

No. DLA intends to conduct its own usability evaluations with DLA users. That said, we’re open to 

feedback, input and best practices from offerors. 

When are Solicitation Responses due?

Applications must be received by February 26th, 2021 at 1:00pm ET. We highly recommended offerors to

submit applications early. Do not wait until 12:59pm ET to send – the DoD firewall significantly slows 

emails with attachments.

How do I submit a Solicitation Response?

Email applications to the accelerate@dla.mil inbox. They must be received no later than the deadline. 

No other email will accept applications, so do not email applications directly to the DLA team or their 

contractor support.

What is the anticipated timeline for making an award?

DLA anticipates making an award by the end of March and beginning execution of the contract in early 

April.

What consortium will be used to manage the OTA? 

None. The team manages its own OTAs.

Will this be a single or multi-award OTA?

TBD. 

What if I have a question that isn’t answered here?

Email all questions to accelerate@dla.mil. 
Does my company need a CAGE code to offer on the solicitation?

Not to apply, but you must secure one to be eligible for award. If you intend to offer on this or any 

other government contract, begin this process immediately. (See solicitation for links).

Must my company be a non-traditional to offer?

Though the OTA program is primarily designed to increase small business engagement, there are 

mechanisms a larger company may use, including partnering with a non-traditional small business, cost 

sharing schemes, and others, that may satisfy the general requirement. (See solicitation).

Must all personnel working on the project be US citizens?

Due to the sensitive nature of DLA operations, it is required that companies be headquartered and 

registered in the United States. However, we understand that companies may have a distributed, global 

workforce and not every employee may be a US citizen. If your company has a unique setup or you do 

not fit into a standard box, please e-mail us.