Consolidating data centers on the Department of Homeland Security’s St. Elizabeths campus won’t be a problem; there are none.
There will, however, be a centralized location for servers in the campus’ information technology operations center, DHS official Mark Hamilton said during an industry day Thursday. Two off-campus data centers, DHS 1 and 2, will house the data.
The General Services Administration hosted the event to field questions about the $2.63 billion contract to install, test and operate a secure network throughout the future DHS headquarters.
Here are some other take-aways from the event:
– Federal employees and contractors are really going to use HSPD12 identification cards to access systems and buildings, Hamilton said. That will start from the minute they enter the garage and continue to their workstations, conference rooms and other areas.
– The 4.5 million square feet campus will be targeted for LEED Gold certification, the second highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.
– The three-phase information technology project also includes 8 specific task for each phase, such as project management, technical consulting and security.
-There will be a single provider for all commercials communication on the campus.
– A solicitation will be issued in March and an award will be made in June.