Cloud Computing at the Department of Transportation

Published: July 07, 2021

Federal Market AnalysisCloud ComputingForecasts and SpendingInformation TechnologyDOT

The DOT has a number of cloud initiatives planned for FY 2022.

Key Takeaways

  • DOT’s cloud spending is growing approximately $10M per year.
  • The Federal Aviation Administration accounts for most of DOT’s cloud spending.
  • Planned DOT investments are spread across mission-critical systems and business systems alike.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) probably doesn’t come immediately to mind when thinking about cloud computing services in the federal government. That’s unfortunate because as of fiscal year 2020 the DOT became one of the top civilian agencies in terms of cloud spending. The chart below tells the story.

According to the data in Deltek’s Cloud Computing Database (available only to members of GovWinIQ’s Federal Market Analysis program), the DOT is growing its spending on cloud by $10M per year, meaning in FY 2021 that total should approach $86M.  

Sure enough, an analysis of the DOT’s fiscal 2022 budget request shows that the DOT’s components requested $83.4M for programs leveraging cloud or moving to the cloud next fiscal year. These planned investments will take place across a number of mission and business areas listed below. Much of this activity is focused in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Air Traffic Operations: The FAA is increasingly using cloud-based capabilities for the legacy National Airspace System (NAS) and new Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Requesting a total of $23.1M for a variety of functions, FAA efforts are focused on the following programs in FY 2022: NextGen Traffic Flow Management ($3M); On Demand National Airspace System ($1M); NAS Infrastructure ($6M); Enhanced System Wide Information Management Cloud Services ($9M); National Cloud Integration Service ($4M); Traffic Flow Improvements ($2M); Operational Analysis and Reporting System ($3.1M).

Cybersecurity: Launched several years ago, the Office of the Secretary of Transportation’s Cybersecurity-as-a-Service (CaaS) program provides continuous monitoring and risk management across the DOT. OST requested $9M to fund CaaS in FY 2022. In addition, the FAA’s Office of Information and Technology Services (AIT) requested $24M to compete a contract in the coming year for a Cloud Access Security Broker capability to improve detection and monitoring of cloud services used by the agency.

IT Shared Services: The FAA’s new Enterprise Information Management (EIM) program provides cloud-based analytical, machine learning, and artificial intelligence capabilities to FAA customers. FY 2022 funding requested for EIM totals $28M to improve data and information management capabilities.

Miscellaneous Efforts: The FAA is migrating its Hotline and Whistleblower Protection Program system to a cloud solution in FY 2022. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) requested $4.5M to maintain its data websites and systems, including new cloud-based data science and analysis capabilities. Lastly, the DOT’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) intends to spend $500K to migrate its data center infrastructure to a commercial cloud provider.