Congress directed the establishment of the pilot in the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act to explore the use of “consumption-based” contracting.

In the conference report on the legislation, lawmakers defined “Anything-as-a-Service” as a model “under which a technology-supported capability is provided to the Department of Defense and may utilize any combination of software, hardware or equipment, data, and labor or services that provides a capability that is metered and billed based on actual usage at fixed price units.”

A key purpose of the effort is for officials to measure the cost and speed of delivery in comparison to using other buying processes at the regular intervals that are customary for the type of solution provided.

The Trump administration is now moving forward with implementation. The Defense Pricing, Contracting, and Acquisition Policy (DPCAP) directorate recently announced the establishment of the pilot program “to promote greater use of ‘Anything-as-a-Service’ as a concept to fulfill DoD mission requirements under FAR-based contracts or Other Transaction agreements.”

A May 1 memo from John Tenaglia, principal director of DPCAP, implemented statutory authority to employ the model “targeting an initial set of Product and Service Codes (PSCs) for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), and Space-as-a-Service (facility, including classified space as a service).”

For SaaS, that includes Business Application/Application Development Software as a Service, DA10; Compute as a Service: Mainframe/Servers, DB10; Data Center as a Service, DC10; End User as a Service: Help Desk, DE10; IT Management as a Service, DF10; Network as a Service, DG10; Security and Compliance as a Service DJ10; and Storage as a Service, DK10, according to an attachment to the memo.

DaaS includes Data Center Support Services, DC01; Mobile Device as a Service, DE11; Network: Satellite Communications and Telecom Access Service, DG11; Platform as a Service: Database, Mainframe, Middleware, DH10; Information Retrieval, R612; and Data Collection Services, R702; Special Studies/Analysis-Scientific Data, B529; and Special Studies/Analysis-Scientific Data (Other Than Scientific), B506.

For space-as-a-service, that includes Rental of Office Buildings, X1AA; Rental of Conference Space and Facilities, X1AB; and Rental of Other Administrative Facilities and Service Buildings, X1AZ.

DPCAP officials “will consider contracting officer proposals to include additional PSCs,” Tenaglia noted.

The memorandum was sent to the commander and acquisition executives of Cyber Command, Special Operations Command and Transportation Command, as well as the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for procurement, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for contracting, and defense agency and DOD field activity directors.

Contracts accepted into the pilot can be exempted from certain requirements related to certified cost or pricing data and full and open competition.

To participate in the program, contracting officers must request approval from DPCAP.

If given the green light, contracting officers “shall, to the extent practicable, enter into a contract or other agreement under the pilot program within 100 days of synopsizing the contract action or posting the justification,” Tenaglia wrote.

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Broadly, a data-as-a-service platform is a cloud-based solution the specializes in data management, analytics, and other data-related capabilities.

One of the awards to Palantir was a $58 million firm-fixed-price contract for a solution for Air Force headquarters.

“This contract provides for automatic data ingestion with data across the Department of the Air Force that continually push personnel, equipment, planning, health, and other readiness data sources into their common data foundation. This readiness information is a critical component of [headquarters]-wide decision-making and data analysis,” according to the Pentagon.

A second contract, valued at $33 million, is to assist the department’s space-focused organizations.

“This contract provides for mission-critical Space situational awareness and [command-and-control] capabilities to operational users at the National Space Defense Center and the Combined Space Operations Center through the furnishing of commercial software licenses. This contract also provides for support to enable the platform to ingest Special Access Program data,” per the DOD announcement,

The National Space Defense Center (NSDC), located at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado, supports U.S. Space Command’s Joint Task Force-Space Defense. It’s focused on enhancing the military and intelligence community’s ability to rapidly detect, warn, characterize, attribute and defend against threats to the nation’s critical space systems.

“The NSDC directly supports space defense unity of effort and expands information sharing in space defense operations among the DoD, National Reconnaissance Office, and other interagency partners,” according to the joint task force.

The Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC), based at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, executes operational command-and-control of space forces “to achieve theater and global objectives,” according to the Space Force.

A third contract, valued at $19 million, is for work to support U.S. Northern Command — which is a geographic combatant command — and North American Aerospace Defense Command. Both Northcom and NORAD are headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, and have the same commander.

This contract “provides for the Command and Control Center to ingest data into the platform from across functional and geographic domains to support ongoing planning and operations for Joint All-Domain Command and Control,” according to Thursday’s announcement.

Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) is a Pentagon initiative that aims to better connect the U.S. military’s many sensors, shooters and networks.

All three contract awards announced Thursday were the result of sole-source acquisitions, with Space Systems Command serving as the contracting activity. All the work is slated to be completed by June 15, 2024.

“We appreciate the government’s continuation of our support to deliver operational mission critical needs and we look forward to working with them,” Palantir said in a statement to DefenseScoop.

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