Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) shares are trading higher Thursday after the company secured a five-year $9.7 billion Pentagon contract.

Pentagon Awards Dell $9.7B Software Contract

Dell Federal Systems, L.P., a subsidiary of Dell, was awarded a single-award, firm-fixed-price blanket purchase agreement with an estimated value of approximately $9.69 billion under the Department of Defense Enterprise Software Initiative.

The agreement is a second-generation follow-on Enterprise Software Agreement intended to streamline and consolidate software acquisition across the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community and the Coast Guard.

According to the award notice, the agreement will allow customers to procure Microsoft software licenses, cloud subscriptions and Software Assurance. The contract also includes support for tiered Microsoft 365 licenses and specialized bundles, including "Disconnected No Cloud Access" licenses.

The agreement includes a limited scope for Microsoft Azure services to support the transition of specific workloads to the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract.

The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific is serving as the contracting activity for the blanket purchase agreement.

Q1 Earnings Preview

Dell is expected to report first-quarter earnings on Thursday after the market closes. The company is anticipated to report earnings per share of $2.96 and revenue of $35.13 billion.

Dell Shares Dart Higher

DELL Price Action: At the time of publication, Dell shares are trading 3.23% higher at $315.17, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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