Microsoft announced today that the United States Army will purchase 50,000 seat licenses of Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud-based Office productivity suite. Office 365 was approved for purchase by the Department of Defense to be deployed to any service, agency, or mission partner without additional competitive process.
“I’m thrilled that the Department of Defense has chosen Microsoft for commercial cloud services. Office 365, combined with the existing solutions available from DISA, will offer a powerful range of capabilities that will increase mission effectiveness and reduce costs. This reflects how the DoD is evolving and advancing to create the best economies of scale in a cost effective manner. All DoD services, agencies and mission partners will be able to use an on premises, cloud or hybrid solution to best meet their needs,” Microsoft’s Curt Kolcun stated in an official blog post.
The blanket purchase agreement, issued by the Army Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS), includes Office 365’s email, calendar, Office Web Apps, Lync, and SharePoint features. “This opportunity gives Microsoft the ability to work with civilian agencies and federal entities at all levels to provide commercial cloud services, opening up new mobile opportunities,” Microsoft explains.
This is yet another big win for Microsoft and their Office 365 cloud offering. Microsoft has struck deals with other government organizations such as the City of San Jose, the City of San Francisco; Santa Clara County, California; the State of California; the City of Chicago; the State of Texas; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the City of Kansas City, Mo.; the City of Seattle; and the State of Washington.
