United States Army.

Army Futures Command (AFC) Modernization and Application Data Environment (MADE)

Within Army Futures Command, the Data and Decision Sciences Directorate (DDSD) is responsible for establishing an enterprise-enabling platform to equip Army leaders at every echelon with the information they need to make fully informed, data-driven decisions based on authoritative and/or production data sources. To achieve this end state, IPTA delivered a built-for-purpose application hosting ecosystem and Data Science environment aligned to the AFC mission. IPTA provided expertise in architecting, deploying, securing, and maintaining big data cloud-based systems using complementary open-source components. Our systems expertise included incorporation of industry standard data management practices that accommodate the acquisition, normalization, and indexing of a multitude of disparate data sources (structured and unstructured). Our in-depth knowledge and expertise in the Risk Management Framework (RMF) processes resulted in the MADE receiving full Environmental ATO in seven months for Impact Level 5 (IL5), a full five months earlier than normally required. We then leveraged lessons-learned and experience to achieve DoD IL6 in Q4 FY2020. Our AFC Team received “Exceptional” CPAR ratings in 2020 and 2021 – “The IA/RMF process and artifact updates and evolutions produced by the contractor was of such quality, it remains the AFC reference standard for the AFC CIO/AO.” [AFC COR]

Army Enterprise Cloud Management Agency (ECMA) Engagement

Under the MADE contract, our DDSD team has been engaged with ECMA’s Coding Resources and Transformation Environment (CReATE) team for transition of the AFC MADE applications into the commercial cloud/cARMY environment. Using a modular approach, IPTA built and manages the AFC MADE DevSecOps software factory informed by U.S. Air Force Platform One best practices and best of breed technology solutions. We are currently working in partnership with ECMA in the build out of their DevSecOps Platform CReATE as an integrated solution encompassing both Microsoft Azure and AWS components. Through our continued collaboration with the Platform One Team and ECMA, we are developing the needed ECMA DevSecOps capabilities in AFC MADE that are aligned with the future capabilities that will be available in cArmy Azure from CReATE. IPTA maintains alignment with ECMA for current and future CReATE capabilities through integrated roadmap planning and weekly collaboration. As testimonial, the MADE DevSecOps capability was adopted by ECMA as the “ECMA CReATE” offering for MS Azure.