Alliant | The Contracting Education Academy

June 12, 2018 By AMK

IT contract worth billions survives litigation

Seven months after its original award, the $50 billion Alliant 2 contract vehicle has survived four legal protests and received an official effective date, the General Services Administration announced June 5.

GSA originally awarded the Alliant 2 IT contract to 61 companies in November 2017, with the goal of replacing the original Alliant governmentwide contract that expires in April 2019. Shortly after the award announcement, however, several companies filed legal protests, delaying the start of its performance and ordering period.

“The Court’s decisions further solidify the validity of GSA’s innovative procurement approach, Highest Technically Rated Offerors with a Fair and Reasonable Price,” said GSA Alliant 2 Procuring Contract Officer John Cavadias in a news release.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/gsa/2018/06/07/50-billion-it-contract-survives-litigation/

February 23, 2017 By AMK

Federal IT acquisition worth $50 billion cleared for takeoff

A major federal acquisition opportunity with a potential contract value of $50 billion for information technology vendors is back on track.

The General Services Administration (GSA) recently resumed processing vendor applications after a legal challenge to the contract was resolved in its favor.

As a result, the GSA this fall will reveal the names of approximately 60 vendors who will be eligible to participate in the Alliant 2 IT contract vehicle. The program is notable not only for the money involved, but also for a major contracting change designed to facilitate business opportunities for IT vendors.

Under the contract, vendors will be able to provide a broad range of IT capabilities to multiple federal agencies.

The scope of work is designed to provide agencies with maximum flexibility in acquiring an IT services-based solution, according to GSA, encompassing existing technologies as well as leading-edge capabilities and virtually any future developments in IT. Components will include email, cloud, cybersecurity, networks, Internet of Things, and big data.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Federal-IT-Acquisition-Worth-50B-Cleared-for-Takeoff-84320.html

January 26, 2017 By AMK

GAO ruling lets GSA buy the USDA steak, not the mystery meat

The General Services Administration (GSA) may have just put the first nail in the coffin that eventually will bury the widespread use of lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) contracts for services.

The Government Accountability Office’s decision to deny four protests of GSA’s Alliant 2 contracts for IT services could end up being a landmark ruling that is that first nail.

“Lowest-price technically acceptable has been disfavored among contractors for putting price over innovation. Now we have protesters who in essence claim that cost was only nominally and improperly considered in the Alliant 2 evaluation,” said Barbara Kinosky, managing partner of Centre Law & Consulting LLC. “We have seen DoD move away from LPTA. This is the first major requirement coming out of a civilian agency that is clearly saying, ‘Contractors, we are looking for smart over cheap. Give us the USDA steak, not the convenience store mystery meat.’ I am confident this is a trend we will now see more of since GSA has taken the lead in the technology area where we definitely need to excel.”

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2017/01/gao-ruling-lets-gsa-buy-usda-steak-not-mystery-meat/

January 20, 2017 By AMK

GAO denies Alliant 2 protests, evaluations to come

The Government Accountability Office has dismissed the pre-award bid protests of several companies that took issue with solicitation language in Alliant 2, the $50 billion IT contracting vehicle the General Services Administration put out to bid in June 2016.

The protesting companies — Buchanan & Edwards, Inc., Enterprise Information Services, Inc., InfoReliance Corp. and Sevatec, Inc. — took issue with Alliant 2’s evaluation scheme and claimed the agency’s intent to award tasks orders to 60 contractors was “insufficient.”

The protests essentially put GSA’s innovative, data-driven, objective approach aimed to factor past performance on trial.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/01/gao-denies-alliant-2-protests-evaluations-come/134594

May 2, 2016 By AMK

An excess of multiple-award contracts is creating new problems for government

For the better part of the past decade, procurement shops throughout the federal government couldn’t seem to stop themselves from creating new contract vehicles.

There’s something alluring about seeding and cultivating a multiple-award contract (MAC), with dozens of companies clamoring to participate and the promise of hundreds of millions of dollars blooming under a vehicle of your creation. Since 2005, thousands of multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) programs have sprung up, many with multi-billion-dollar ordering ceilings.

The contract vehicle garden is now overgrown. Supply clearly exceeds demand.

Just look at IT services. The 10 largest contract vehicles have $17 billion in annualized ordering capacity. But those vehicles hosted under $12 billion in actual orders last year, leaving 37 percent excess capacity. Examples of underutilized contracts abound. The Interior Department’s cloud computing IDIQ has a $1 billion annualized ceiling. It attracted just $27 million in spending in fiscal 2015, according to federal procurement data.

The excessive excess capacity won’t last.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2016/04/excess-multiple-award-contracts-creating-new-problems-government/127645

Seven months after its original award, the $50 billion Alliant 2 contract vehicle has survived four legal protests and received an official effective date, the General Services Administration announced June 5.

A major federal acquisition opportunity with a potential contract value of $50 billion for information technology vendors is back on track.

The General Services Administration (GSA) may have just put the first nail in the coffin that eventually will bury the widespread use of lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) contracts for services.

The Government Accountability Office has dismissed the pre-award bid protests of several companies that took issue with solicitation language in Alliant 2, the $50 billion IT contracting vehicle the General Services Administration put out to bid in June 2016.

For the better part of the past decade, procurement shops throughout the federal government couldn’t seem to stop themselves from creating new contract vehicles.

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