Air Force Spending on Other Transaction Agreements for Cloud Computing, FY 2020-2022

Continuing my blog series on the spending data for cloud-related prototypes, this week’s post takes a look at the data for the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force has been using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) for information technology for several years now. The latest data on OTA spending shows, however, that the spending for cloud-based prototypes is weakening compared to earlier years.

Total Cloud-Related OTA Spending, FY 2020-2022

A look at the obligations data for cloud-related OTAs reveals that the Air Force spent $51M in FY 2022. Meanwhile, three-year spending on cloud-related prototypes totaled $217M. Yet contrary to what we saw with the Army’s and Fourth Estate’s spending, the Air Force’s cloud OTA spending has trended down since FY 2020.

Spending recovered a bit in FY 2022 due to the beginning of a couple of new efforts (See Below). In general, however, Air Force components are not engaging in as much cloud-related R&D work as they have in years past. This is almost certainly due to the fact that the Air Force created several enterprise cloud environments a few years ago, including Platform ONE and Cloud ONE. With these in place there has not been as much of a need for special contracts, such as those awarded via OTA.

Cloud-Related OTA Spending by Air Force Organization, FY 2020-2022

The Air Force organizations using OTA contracts to do cloud-related work are listed in the chart above. The predominance of the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center (AFLCMC) at the top is no surprise as it’s sub-components are some of the most active users of cloud computing in the service. The cloud-related projects that make up the AFLCMC’s spending are:

• Kessel Run Software Tool Chain Services - $50.8M
• Enterprise IT-as-a-Service (EITaaS) Network-as-a-Service - $39.8M
• EITaaS Compute and Store - $39.2M
• Special Access Program EITaaS - $6.3M
• Special Access Program EITaaS (SEITaaS) Test Integration Lab - $1.9M (FY 2022 New Start)
• Multi-Level, Multi-Compartment Security Cloud Software Development Kit Production Effort - $1.9M (FY 2022 New Start)
• Network-as-a-Service Risk Reduction Effort - $1.9M

One thing to note about this list is that the bulk of this spending occurred in FY 2020. By FY 2022, spending on most of these programs had dropped significantly. Those noted as new starts are the exception.

Concerning the AF Research Laboratory, all of its programs had wrapped up by FY 2022 so I won’t bother listing them here. Other new starts in FY 2022 include Space Systems Command’s Information Warfare Research Project ($2.5M) and the Agency for Modeling and Simulation’s Persistent Cyber Training Environment Follow-On ($250K).

Parting Thought

The Air Force’s use of OTA for cloud-related work will probably rebound as the service seeks to apply commercial technology to a growing list of challenges. The establishment of enterprise-level cloud environments has removed some of the need for Air Force organizations to leverage OTAs, but this will not entirely preclude the need for prototype work as new technologies come online. This is especially the case for projects related to artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and quantum computing, all of which require the computing power that cloud offers to push boundaries.