In August 2021, Accenture Federal Services (AFS) acquired Novetta, an advanced analytics company specializing in providing services to the national security and defense communities. The acquisition has expanded Novetta’s reach to include full-spectrum cyber, cloud engineering, DevSecOps, and multi-INT analytics, and led to a first-of-its kind agreement to resell and support the Iron Bank and Big Bang products of the U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) software development platform, known as Platform One.
Under the agreement, Novetta, along with its partners Fearless and Spathe Systems, will deploy both products for government customers and commercial software vendors alike, with the USAF focusing on the baseline and governance of the Platform One environment. The deal comes as part of a greater USAF initiative to ink agreements with technology contractors to permit the sale of government-developed technologies, with the agreement coming as part of a partnership with Platform One and nonprofit organization Catalyst Campus. The USAF has contracted with a total of six technology companies to sell parts of the Platform One software development environment.
"Having services sold together with a government approved stack will prove to be major value-add for the U.S. Air Force through the creation of a trusted network of system integrators, including Novetta, that can implement Platform One Big Bang in an approved and repeatable manner," said Justin Shirk, AFS Managing Director, National Security Portfolio, and former Novetta Vice President. "This agreement also helps independent software vendors outsource container development, hardening, and maintenance services for Iron Bank, thus standardizing and accelerating image development and use."
The platform contains a variety of open source, commercial, and custom-built software to support container-based DevSecOps software development. Big Bang serves as an infrastructure-as-code and configuration-as-code development environment, with Iron Bank serving as a repository of digitally signed, binary container images, hardened according to Department of Defense standards.
The new agreement will not only expand the use of Platform One, but will allow the companies to integrate Platform One solutions into their own environments, ultimately widening the platform’s visibility across the Department of Defense and permitting other agencies to benefit from its innovative approach.
