U.S. Labor Department inks $50 million cloud email deal with Microsoft

Grazed from NextGov. Author: Editorial Staff

The Labor Department will pay a vendor up to $50 million to move its employees and contractors to a cloud-based Microsoft email system, according to an award notice. The contract also appears to include systems for Web-based e-discovery, records management and software-as-a-service tools, according to recent solicitation documents.

The Department first sought a vendor for cloud email services in August. The plan at that point was to combine legacy systems from the department’s nine major divisions into a unified email system with three separate domains, one for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, another for the Office of Inspector General and a third for the remainder of the agency, according to the request for proposal…

The award, which went to the vendor InfoReliance, was posted Monday and may still be protested until early February. InfoReliance is also the supplier of an internal social network used by the National Nuclear Security Administration. Cloud-based email systems make it easier for federal employees to access their accounts from personal computers, smartphones and tablets. Cloud systems are also typically cheaper to run than systems stored in a government-owned data center…

Read more from the source @ http://www.nextgov.com/cloud-computing/2013/01/labor-inks-50-million-cloud-email-deal-microsoft-vendor/60961/