OREANDA-NEWS. August 21, 2013. The U.S. Department of the Interior has selected Verizon to participate in a USD10 billion, 10-year contract to provide cloud and hosting services. This is potentially one of Verizon’s largest federal cloud contracts to date.

Verizon is one of 10 companies that will compete to offer cloud-based storage, secure file transfer, virtual machine, and database, Web, and development and test environment hosting services.  The company is also one of four selected to offer SAP application hosting services.

Each of the 10 agreements awarded under the Foundation Cloud Hosting Services contract has a potential maximum value of USD 1 billion.

A key component of the department’s IT Transformation initiative, the Foundation Cloud Hosting Services contract has an initial three-year term that can be extended through April 2023.  The contract is an essential pillar of the department’s multiyear transformative initiative, which is expected to produce savings of USD 100 million a year from 2016 through 2020.

The contract will enable the Department of the Interior to modernize the way it manages applications and stores data, and control costs through a reduction of its data center footprint.

The services covered by the contract will be available to all nine of the department’s technical bureaus and seven administrative offices covering more than 2,400 locations and 70,000 employees. The department also expects that other federal departments and agencies will use the contract to purchase cloud services.

“Verizon has a history of successfully providing advanced networking and security solutions to the Department of the Interior,” said Susan Zeleniak, senior vice president, public sector markets, Verizon Enterprise Solutions.  “The Foundation Cloud Hosting Services contract represents an expansion of Verizon’s engagement with the department and will enable it to leverage Verizon’s significant cloud investments and expertise to help the department achieve its long-term objectives.”

The Department of the Interior provides stewardship for 20 percent of the U.S. land mass and manages national public lands, minerals, parks and wildlife refuges.  It is also responsible for wildlife and endangered species conservation, historic preservation, land protection and restoration, mapping and geological, hydrological and biological science initiatives, as well as Indian and Alaska Native programs.

Verizon is a leading provider of advanced IT and communications services to governments around the world. Visit the Verizon Public Sector website for more information.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America’s most reliable wireless network, with more than 100 million retail connections nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries.  A Dow 30 company with nearly \\$116 billion in 2012 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 180,900.  For more information, visit about.verizon.com.