This story was updated March 23 to reflect additional reporting.
The White House may finally get what the rest of the nation has grown accustomed to at any Starbucks: Access to WiFi.
According to a notice posted by the Defense Information Systems Agency, the White House Communications Agency, which DISA manages, has issued a request for information to industry about developing a wireless network for the White House campus.
The network would support commercial and unclassified but sensitive Internet (NIPRNet) transmissions, operate as a single management system, capable of providing a variety of security requirements that meet Defense Department standards.
“The Request for Information contains a potential concept of operations in support of an innovation initiative not associated with the White House itself and is only one component of a larger National Leadership mobile strategy,” a DISA spokesperson told Breaking Gov.
“The lack of an assured wireless infrastructure has affected the daily operations of the (Presidential Community of Interest),” however, notes a background document that accompanied the notice. The request for information on a “Campus Wireless Technical Solution” was posted March 21 on FedBizOpps.gov.
The scope of the job outlined in the RFI suggests that the system will need to be extensive: According to the WHCA document, the White House Campus Wireless local area network would involve extending wireless access to approximately 60 structures, three (half-mile) thoroughfares, and two outdoor areas.
A DISA spokesperson confirmed that “This request for information is to support the Department of Defense, the Defense Information Systems Agency and WHCA’s mobile communications efforts, and is consistent with the evolving DoD Chief Information Officer’s mobility strategy.”
For the more technically-minded, the request notes that the wireless system will need to carry 2.4 and 5 GHz radio frequency bands, support both statically and dynamically assigned IP addresses and support IPv6 as well as IPv4 Internet systems.
The White House Communications Agency provides information and communications services to the President, Vice President, White House Staff, National Security Staff, and US Secret Service. In order to fulfill it’s mission, the WHCA notice said, the agency “must provide wireless connectivity in fixed, mobile, and temporary environments.”
News of the White House notice was initially reported Thursday by NextGov.