California is moving toward implementing an enterprise standard that would encourage state agencies and departments to migrate to Microsoft’s cloud-based email and productivity tools, officials tell Techwire.
The Department of Technology recently announced that agencies and departments can now order Office 365 as one of the state’s vendor-hosted software subscriptions (VHSS) via three different service bundles. The packages include a combination of Word and productivity tools, Exchange email, Skype videoconferencing and SharePoint; 50 GB email boxes and unlimited archiving. Data will be stored in Microsoft’s government cloud.
The Department of Technology will be procuring Office 365 on behalf of state agencies and departments through a pre-existing contract vehicle that Riverside County brokered with Microsoft under the Department of General Services’ Software Licensing Program.
The decision to go with Office 365 was a statewide decision, said Chris Cruz, chief deputy director of operations for the Department of Technology.
“This is what the AIOs and the CIOs in the community wanted and the feedback they provided to the Department of Technology was to move in this direction,” Cruz said.
A central component of Office 365 is email. For at least the past two years California had been trying to procure a single replacement for its on-premise CA.mail system and off-premise California Email Service (CES); both are Exchange. The state said it did not receive responsive bids to an IFB released in 2014, so officials negotiated a two-year contract extension through mid-2017 with the contract incumbents, Microsoft and CSC.
“I think the big prevailing factor, too, is that we had a contract that was expiring and we needed to move off of it. With Office 365 and Exchange being offered as part of the package, it presented the best option for the state moving forward,” Cruz said Tuesday.
There are several potential benefits to California by going to Office 365, Cruz said. The state could eventually roll up an enterprise standard and End User License Agreement (EULA) for Microsoft, he said. More than 130 California agencies and departments have procured Office separately and individually, each under their own EULA today.
Widespread adoption could enable California to develop an asset management inventorying system to keep track of licensing and would help the state ensure the correct security configurations within Office 365 are standardized across the state government. Furthermore, federated management of Active Directory will be put back into the hands of agencies and departments.
Adoption of Skype also should help the state develop and mature its videoconferencing and remote workforce capabilities. Data analytics in Office 365 also will be more robust. Microsoft’s government cloud also is compliant with major security standards, such as FedRAMP. This should attract more customers that handle personally identifiable data, Cruz said.
About 130,000 state email boxes are in CES; 58,000 are in CA.mail, Cruz said.
“Before with the current solutions we have, some departments like DMV and the Franchise Tax Board didn’t move because we didn’t have that level of security certification that we’re going to have in [Microsoft’s] government cloud. Now that changes the whole dynamics of what we’re going to have in town,” Cruz explained.
But some obstacles and unknowns remain. One issue is it likely will take 12 months or longer to “true up” the existing Microsoft EULAs that some agencies have agreed to individually. Cruz said most of the customers using on-premise CA.mail, such as the Office of System Integration and the Employment Development Department, have told him they want to move to the cloud voluntarily. Others, like High-Speed Rail, Department of Water Resources and the State Controller’s Office, are interested in moving soon to the cloud, Cruz said. But it’s not yet certain that CA.mail will be retired entirely; it depends if there are enough customers that want to keep their email on-premise.
Also, a technology policy letter the Department of Technology issued this month says agencies and departments may look at other solutions if Office 365 doesn’t meet their needs. Cruz said he doesn’t know if any customers will pursue an alternative.
The Department of Technology is hosting two upcoming forums for CA.mail and CES customer to further explain the new offering.
“We’re expanding our cloud capabilities and a getting to a level of maturity now that I think bodes well for the state,” Cruz said.
