multiple award contract | The Contracting Education Academy

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/

April 2, 2020 By cs

What you need to know about the new small business ‘reserves’ FAR rule

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has been amended to implement regulatory changes made by the Small Business Administration, which provide a policy for partial set-asides and reserves, and for total set-asides to small businesses on multiple-award contracts.

The final rule goes into effect March 30, 2020.

As used in the new FAR rule, a “reserve” provides small businesses with opportunities to participate in federal contracts as prime contractors in circumstances where small businesses might not have otherwise been able to participate.

Reserves are applicable to Multiple-Award Contracts only and are to be used when market research indicates that a total or partial set-aside is not feasible.

The language at FAR 19.503 addresses factors the contracting officer must consider at the contract level. Multiple-award solicitations with reserves may result in contract awards to more than one small business. FAR 19.504(c)(1) addresses procedures at the order level when more than one small business receives an award under a multiple-award solicitation with a reserve.

The new rule is expected to benefit small business by removing the current requirement for small business offerors to submit an offer for both the set-aside and non-set-aside portions of a partial set-aside. That requirement was burdensome for small business concerns looking to perform only the set-aside portion(s). Now, small business offerors may submit an offer for only the set-aside portion if they are only interested in performing that portion. By allowing small business offerors to only submit an offer for the set-aside portion, the Government expects to have fewer proposals to evaluate for the non-set-aside portion of the solicitation, which would result in a reduction in burden. However, there may be additional proposals received on the set-aside portion of the solicitation from offerors that previously did not submit a proposal for the requirement because they would have had to submit a proposal for all portions of the solicitation.

Other impacts of this final rule include the following:

The rule provides contracting officers with the authority to issue orders directly to a small business under a reserve, which will increase opportunities for small business concerns awarded a contract under a multiple-award contract reserve but will result in lost opportunity for the other contractors with awards on the multiple-award contract.
The rule removes the ability of interested parties to protest sole source awards under the service-disabled veteran-owned small business program.
The rule requires certain multiple-award contracts to be assigned more than one NAICS code.
The rule requires contracting officers to specify the compliance period for the limitations on subcontracting at either the contract or order level.
The rule prohibits tiered evaluation of offers on multiple-award contracts unless the agency has statutory authority.

Applicable contract clauses governing the use of set-asides and reserves for multiple-award contracts are:

Solicitations for multiple-award contracts that are total set-asides are to include FAR clause 52.219-6.
Solicitations for multiple-award contracts that contain partial set-asides are to include FAR clause 52.219-7.
Solicitations for multiple-award contracts that contain a reserve are to include FAR clause 52.219-31.

February 12, 2020 By cs

GSA moves into phase two of its massive contract merger

The General Services administration has begun the process of altering current contracts under its Multiple Award Schedule program, as part of its ongoing initiative to take the 24 different schedules currently existing under the program and merge them into one, unified schedule.

The agency announced Jan. 31 that current schedule holders will receive notice of a “mass mod” to their contracts in the coming months, which will align their terms and conditions with the new, consolidated Multiple Award Schedule.

“We are planning for a smooth transition and federal agencies should experience no disruption to their purchasing practices during the mass mod,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Julie Dunne in a news release.

“There will be no change to contract numbers, which makes the transition less burdensome overall. And, we’ve been steadily training our contracting workforce to ensure a seamless transition. Soon, we’ll have just one Schedule, with a single set of terms and conditions, making it much easier to buy and offer complete solutions.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2020/01/31/gsa-moves-into-phase-two-of-its-massive-contract-merger/

December 30, 2019 By cs

Federal contracting moves that will ripple beyond 2019

The past year has been long and significant in just about every respect, and government contracting is no exception.

The year was defined by one big, controversial procurement; the ongoing shift to buy more IT products and services through the General Services Administration; that agency’s consolidation of its major contracts on the Multiple Award Schedules; and a new cybersecurity standard that has the defense contracting community holding its breath.

Before 2019 comes to a close, Nextgov spoke with federal contracting experts Chris Cornillie, federal technology market analyst for Bloomberg Government, and analysts at The Pulse of GovCon, a market intelligence firm.

Top of mind for Cornillie was arguably the biggest contract — and upset — of the year. The Defense Department’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, contract is projected to be worth up to $10 billion over up to 10 years, as a single provider builds a “war cloud” for use across the services.

The Defense Department started the JEDI contract two years ago, a process stretched out further by bid protests and lawsuits. Constant drama surrounded this contract—including a salacious dossier, a last-minute recusal from the secretary of defense and statements from the president—and the award announcement was no exception.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/12/federal-contracting-moves-will-ripple-beyond-2019/162025/

October 17, 2019 By cs

GSA takes first major step in schedules consolidation journey

The General Services Administration has taken the first major step in consolidating its 24 different schedules into one consolidated offering, checking off phase one of its overhaul of the Multiple Award Schedules program, and outlining deliverables for the second and final stages next year.

In phase one of the consolidation, GSA completed a review of the schedule contracts and reduced about two-thirds of the number of Special Item Numbers (SINs) as part of a move to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Phase one of the consolidation will only impact vendors who are applying for a schedule for the first time. But for phases two and three, which will take place next year, GSA is working with industry partners to ease the transition for current schedule holders.

Stephanie Shutt, director of GSA’s Multiple Awards Schedules (MAS) Program Office, said the rise of duplicative schedules led to industry partners getting onto multiple contracts in the same program and offering the same products in multiple places.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/acquisition/2019/10/gsa-takes-first-major-step-in-schedules-consolidation-journey/

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 Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has been amended to implement regulatory changes made by the Small Business Administration, which provide a policy for partial set-asides and reserves, and for total set-asides to small businesses on multiple-award contracts.

The General Services administration has begun the process of altering current contracts under its Multiple Award Schedule program, as part of its ongoing initiative to take the 24 different schedules currently existing under the program and merge them into one, unified schedule.

The past year has been long and significant in just about every respect, and government contracting is no exception.

The General Services Administration has taken the first major step in consolidating its 24 different schedules into one consolidated offering, checking off phase one of its overhaul of the Multiple Award Schedules program, and outlining deliverables for the second and final stages next year.

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