Alliant | The Contracting Education Academy

January 21, 2021 By cs

GSA kicks starts 2021 with an acquisition potpourri

When it comes to federal procurement, the General Services Administration takes no off days.

While the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service employees will never be mistaken for elite athletes — where this concept of no days off comes from — they aren’t wasting any time setting up 2021 to be a busy year for contractors and for new governmentwide acquisition contracts.

In the span of two weeks, GSA released the draft solicitation for Polaris, the small business GWAC to replace the debacle that was Alliant 2 Small Business as well as two requests for information — one for artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, and one to develop a new professional services vehicle.

These initial pieces of market research or acquisition strategy planning come as GSA already is reviewing bids for spots under the 8(a) STARS III GWAC and the ASTRO program. GSA expects to make awards for both of these programs in spring 2021 or thereabouts.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2021/01/gsa-kicks-starts-2021-with-an-acquisition-potpourri/

September 1, 2020 By cs

GSA imagines new small business GWAC

The General Services Administration gave the public a look at its next step in developing the agency’s new small business governmentwide contracting (GWAC) vehicle that will eventually replace the canceled Alliant 2 Small Business contract.

The new vehicle will emphasize Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) and woman-owned small business set-asides, streamlined pricing and contract submission processes, as well as a source for emerging artificial intelligence, machine learning, as-a-service offerings, cloud and edge computing technologies, as well as cybersecurity technology, according to GSA officials.

In an Aug. 27 webcast, GSA small business and IT category officials gave a loose outline of how they see the agency’s next-generation small business contract will develop in the coming months. They asked for industry input on how to maximize technologies, processes and ease-of-use for the new GWAC.

The agency anticipates issuing a draft solicitation “by the end of the year,” said Lee Tittle, program lead for small business GWACs in GSA’s Office of IT Category (OITC). To accommodate industry input and disseminate information on the effort, GSA opened a new category on its Interact online community.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2020/08/27/rockwell-gsa-new-gwac-smal-biz.aspx

July 10, 2020 By cs

GSA scraps $15 billion Alliant 2 small business contract

The General Service Administration (GSA) has canceled the solicitation of its $15 billion Alliant 2 Small Business governmentwide IT contract after it was plagued with protests.

That agency announced late Thursday it is “planning a new approach” for small business IT governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs) after “the federal government’s requirements have evolved and GSA recognizes the opportunity to strengthen, innovate, and better respond to changing technology needs and security threats,” it vaguely said in a release.

GSA had originally awarded the 10-year contract to 81 small businesses in 2018. But just over a year later, the agency rescinded those awards after one company’s successful bid protest — there were dozens of protests of the contract in total — and went back to evaluating bids.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/gsa-scraps-15b-alliant-2-small-business-contract/

Also see Experts Break Down GSA’s Abrupt Cancellation of $15B Small Business IT GWAC at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/07/experts-break-down-gsas-abrupt-cancellation-15b-small-business-it-gwac/166701/

June 3, 2020 By cs

The current approach to awarding big multiple-award contracts is broken — here’s how to fix it

It’s been awhile since I’ve jumped back on my soap box, but after the latest news of protests delaying yet another large multiple award, governmentwide contract, it’s time to bring back the call for competition at the task order level.

The General Services Administration’s Second Generation IT (2GIT) services is facing four new bid protests making 13 overall since the agency launched the effort more than a year ago.

At the same time, GSA is facing more pressure to make a decision about the Alliant 2 small business vehicle that has been on hold for more than a year and in the works for almost five years. GSA officials have said multiple times over the past few weeks that a new information about Alliant 2 small business would be forthcoming “soon,” which in government talk means anywhere from one day to six months.

These are just two of latest examples of why large multiple award contracts should just make getting on the vehicle as easy as possible and then let the real competition happen at the task order level.

Instead, agencies are dragged down by an acquisition model that is well past its prime and no longer meets the needs of today’s marketplace for many reasons.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/05/the-current-approach-to-awarding-big-multiple-award-contracts-is-broken-heres-how-to-fix-it/

December 24, 2018 By AMK

DHS turns to existing GSA, NIH contracts to (mostly) replace EAGLE

As with a number of major IT vehicles this year, the Homeland Security Department is tossing out plans to recompete a central IT services contract and is instead opting to rely on governmentwide acquisition contracts beginning early next year.

Rather than recompete the Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading-Edge Solutions, or EAGLE II, for a third generation, Homeland Security officials announced last week a transition to a broader acquisition strategy they’re calling EAGLE Next Gen. The strategy will tap a set of existing contracts to build a suite of IT services offerings for use across the department. Homeland Security officials also expect to compete targeted contracts to supplement niche mission needs.

In a determination made Dec. 17, Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa said as of Feb. 4, Homeland Security components will purchase IT services off of six GWACs managed by the General Services Administration and the National Institutes of Health: GSA’s Alliant 2 and Alliant 2 Small Business, 8(a) STARS II, VETS 2, and NIH’s CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/12/dhs-turns-existing-gsa-nih-contracts-mostly-replace-eagle/153731/

When it comes to federal procurement, the General Services Administration takes no off days.

The General Services Administration gave the public a look at its next step in developing the agency’s new small business governmentwide contracting (GWAC) vehicle that will eventually replace the canceled Alliant 2 Small Business contract.

The General Service Administration (GSA) has canceled the solicitation of its $15 billion Alliant 2 Small Business governmentwide IT contract after it was plagued with protests.

It’s been awhile since I’ve jumped back on my soap box, but after the latest news of protests delaying yet another large multiple award, governmentwide contract, it’s time to bring back the call for competition at the task order level.

As with a number of major IT vehicles this year, the Homeland Security Department is tossing out plans to recompete a central IT services contract and is instead opting to rely on governmentwide acquisition contracts beginning early next year.

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