CHIPS Articles: ActivIdentity ESL Supports DON IT Security Infrastructure While Saving Millions

"Every time you enter your personal identification number (PIN), you use the ActivIdentity ESL Agreement," says Cmdr. Ross "Rusty" Orvik, the DON ESL team lead. "The ActivIdentity ESL agreement is a critical part of the DON's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). It links your Common Access Card (CAC) to our DON and other Department of Defense (DoD) networks. The ESL ensures that the right Sailor, Marine, or DON civilian has secure access to our networks and applications from their desk, at home with their CAC reader, or deployed around the world."

The ActiveIdentity ESL Agreement was negotiated by the DON ESL Program Office (PMM 110), which leverages the combined buying power of the Navy and Marine Corps to achieve discounted prices for much needed software.

While the ActivIdentity ESL Agreement is smaller ($8.11 million ceiling) than many of the other ESL agreements awarded to date, including Microsoft, Oracle, Symantec, and Axway, the functionality provided by ActivIdentity products is no less important to the success of the DON mission and day-to-day operations.

The ActivClient suite of products provides the DON, as well as much of the DoD with the PKI authentication and encryption capabilities that enable all levels of DON personnel to use a CAC as standard identification to gain right of entry to DON computers, networks, and certain DON facilities connected to the DON/Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN).

ActivClient validates all PKI-enabled Microsoft applications, such as Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Sharepoint, Outlook, and others, and currently resides on every desktop, laptop, mobile device, and server in the DON networking environment.

The ActivIdentity ESL Agreement is structured as a firm fixed-price (FFP) agreement, covering the ActivClient product suite on a per-user basis. The agreement allows for the purchase of new ActivClient licenses and the maintenance of existing licenses over the agreement’s period of performance (April 2014 – April 2019).

Figure 1, at right, shows the products covered under the ActivIdentity ESL Agreement.

During the first six months of the agreement, the DON has generated over $2 million in cost savings on ActivIdentity orders, with anticipated savings over the life of the agreement expected to total just under $6 million.

In negotiating the agreement, the DON ActivIdentity ESL team was able to secure discounts of between 58-83 percent off GSA prices, depending on the product. These large discounts, when viewed in light of significant discounts being generated in tandem on other ESL agreements, demonstrate the immense value of the DON’s approach to strategic sourcing in the software realm and the significant savings that can result.

In addition to generating significant savings, the ActivIdentity ESL Agreement aligns with DON Chief Information Officer policy in that it improves IT asset management capabilities and promotes standardization of products across the department, while also reducing acquisition workload and improving efficiencies.

As with other ESL agreements negotiated to date, this agreement ensures that the DON will have greater transparency, oversight and control over ActivIdentity software procurements today and in the future, thereby reducing waste through the optimization of license counts across the DON, while generating significant cost savings and increased negotiating power for future DON agreements.

Established in 2011 to support the DoD CIO’s IT consolidation roadmap and efficiency efforts, the DON ESL program consolidates, centralizes and streamlines the acquisition and management of licensing agreements for the Navy and Marine Corps. The DON CIO designated the Marine Corps as the lead, under the acquisition oversight of Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS).

Inquiries regarding the DON ActivIdentity ESL Agreement may be directed to the following points of contact:

For detailed ordering instructions and templates, refer to the ActivIdentity Ordering Guide, available at the following URL: https://navy.deps.mil/peoeis/sites/pmm110/actividentity_esl/default.aspx.