After protests, CACI prevails on $5.7B Air Force IT contract

After rounds of protest from other bidders, Reston-based CACI International Inc. announced Tuesday that it will transform the Air Force’s IT service delivery for more than 800,000 airmen and Space Force guardians under a $5.7 billion contract.

Enterprise Information Technology as a Service (EITaaS) Wave 1, an Air Force initiative, includes transforming the Air Force’s and Space Force’s IT services from an in-house, base-centric model to an advanced enterprise service delivery model.

CACI initially was awarded the contract on Aug. 30, 2022,  but the contract award was protested by Arlington County-based Accenture Federal Services and two Reston-based companies, Peraton and Science Applications International Corp., all of which alleged, among other complaints, unfair advantage based on CACI’s employment of three former government officials, according to the Government Accountability Office. After taking corrective action, the service again picked CACI for the contract. Peraton filed another protest, which was denied by GAO in April.

According to the Air Force, CACI will lead a team of small business contractors that will complete the work, which will include enhanced an IT management system, IT storefront, enterprise help desk, local field services and life cycle support for end-user devices. The Air Force has said that the transformation will free up airmen to shift their focus from daily IT operations to warfighting needs. A test of Wave 1 services at eight installations worldwide resulted in faster login times and better functioning devices.

“We are honored to serve the Air Force and deliver on the department’s vision for a modern IT infrastructure,” John Mengucci, CACI President and CEO, said in a statement. “With more than 60 years of experience supporting DoD (Department of Defense) enterprise missions, CACI is well-equipped to securely standardize a wide range of users, IT configurations and global environments while consistently introducing new innovations to benefit both the Air Force and Space Force on the EITaaS program.”

On June 21, CACI announced that it had received the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command’s Spectral contract, which has a $1.2 billion ceiling over seven years. Under that contract, CACI will develop and deploy the Navy’s next-generation shipboard signals intelligence, electric warfare and information operations weapons systems.

CACI employs more than 22,000 people. It generated $6.2 billion in 2022 revenues and reported $1.7 billion in revenues for the quarter ending March 31.