DISA shops for expansion of its classified commercial smartphone service

The Defense Information Systems Agency is looking for a vendor that can support up to 2,000 smartphones that store and transmit classified data, part of DoD’s gradual evolution beyond the SME-PED, a $3,000 handheld that only runs on 2G networks.

In a sources sought notice DISA issued on Thursday, officials said they’re planning a procurement for the back-end infrastructure necessary to support classified data on commercial devices. The contract would involve the operation and expansion of two secure mobile gateways in the U.S., plus the potential stand-up of two more gateways overseas.

The vendor would need to be able to provide ongoing maintenance and helpdesk services for up to 2,000 devices under the DoD Mobile Classified Capability (DMCC) program. Earlier this year, DISA certified its first commercial device under the program, a hardened version of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Here’s a giant asterisk for interested companies: The sources sought notice helpfully points out there’s only one security technology that’s been approved by the National Security Agency for transmission of classified data across commercial networks, at least so far. The owner of that proprietary system, Apriva, is also the incumbent vendor that built the gateways DISA has been using during its classified mobility pilots.

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