Booz Allen Secures $674M Contract to Enhance Pentagon’s Data Analytics Platform

The General Services Administration has awarded a five-year, $674 million contract to Booz Allen Hamilton.

Under the deal, Booz Allen is tasked with supporting the growth of Advana, the Department of Defense’s data analytics platform designed for improving decision-making across the agency.

The platform integrates hundreds of business systems used by the DOD to make data “accessible, understandable, and usable,” Booz Allen said in a statement.

The GSA calls on the defense contractor to support the platform’s growth by using next-generation technologies and techniques in artificial intelligence and machine learning operations, cloud computing, data visualization and data engineering.

The U.S. government expects that through Booz Allen’s work on Advana, the country’s defense leadership will be a step “closer to information dominance,” the company said, adding that such a goal will be achieved by having access to real-time data from across the DOD.

The goals of the system include improving financial management and data accuracy, as well as strengthening compliance, control and risk management.

The Advana platform also provides decision analytics on financial performance, answering questions on whether the DOD pays personnel and vendors accurately and on time and whether the department posts receivables and disbursements on time, Booz Allen explained in a publicly available case study regarding the system.

Leslie DiFonzo, an executive vice president at the company, noted that the Pentagon has made having access to data and analytics a priority as a response to growing threats from U.S. adversaries.

With the DOD’s efforts in enabling ready access to new technologies, the U.S. is able to make “faster, smarter” decisions that improve businesses, operations and missions, DiFonzo added. 

Currently, over 20,000 Defense Department staffers are using the Advana platform to address enterprise-wide mission and business challenges.