U.S. Air Force purchases $26M of Autodesk products

The U.S. Air Force Office of the Civil Engineer awarded the contract to Autodesk for its software and related services.

By Source: Autodesk April 7, 2011

Autodesk Inc. announced the United States Air Force (USAF), Office of the Civil Engineer, has signed a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with DLT Solutions for access to the Autodesk complete portfolio of software products and Autodesk-related services and training. DLT Solutions is Autodesk’s master U.S. government reseller. The contract value under the BPA against which future task orders are expected to be issued is $26 million over a five-year period and includes access to AutoCAD Map 3D, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodesk Navisworks, Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD, and AutoCAD LT, among others.

 “We are extremely pleased to extend our long-standing relationship with the USAF through this strategic sourcing agreement,” said Jay Bhatt, senior vice president, AEC solutions at Autodesk. “Autodesk is pleased to play a key partnership role in helping Air Force Civil Engineering to provide, operate, maintain, and protect a mission critical portfolio of sustainable installation assets around the world. This agreement ensures Air Force Civil Engineering has access to the latest innovative design, geospatial, modeling, and visualization software tools and professional services to support its national defense mission.”

As BIM-based designs are required by the General Services Administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the USAF is now requiring a BIM-based design approach for all vertical military construction (MILCON) projects in fiscal year 2011 and beyond. By having access to the BIM products, USAF personnel–who deal with managing building construction, operations and maintenance–will have the software tools and training necessary to take advantage of the 3D building models being delivered by design contractors. Using the 3D BIM models, the Air Force will be able to leverage design and engineering data more easily as approximately 100 to 150 unique MILCON projects are undertaken annually across a physical plant valued at more than $250 billion.

Read the full press release here.