OASIS | The Contracting Education Academy

February 17, 2015 By AMK

GSA wants to boost market share of Schedules to 33 percent of federal spending

The General Services Administration (GSA) is exploring different ways to boost its contract spending market share and enhance its Multiple Awards Schedule program, according to agency officials.

Tom Sharpe, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA, said he wants to boost the agency’s market share of federal spending from 15 percent to 33 percent in three years.

New contract vehicles such as the OASIS contract for professional services and the move to a “category management” system of expert contract advisers will help, Sharpe said.

He said at a GSA industry forum Feb. 13, hosted by the Professional Services Council, that the agency might roll out more versions of OASIS in the future for other contract areas besides professional services.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/acquisition/gsa-gwac/2015/02/13/gsa-changes-schedules/23359425/

December 23, 2014 By AMK

What’s different about OASIS?

In September the General Services Administration declared its One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) multiple-award contract program “open for business.” OASIS and OASIS Small Business (OASIS SB), a small-business set-aside contract, are hybrid, governmentwide acquisition vehicles that offer an integrated approach to address both commercial and noncommercial requirements for professional services. In a recent interview with Federal Times Editor Steve Watkins, OASIS Program Executive Officer Jim Ghiloni explained why he expects the program to serve a critical role in federal procurement. Following are edited excerpts:

GSA has declared OASIS open for business. What interest are you seeing so far from the federal customer base?

There’s a great deal of interest. We had opened OASIS Small Business a couple of months ago now [in June].

We’ve obviously already been engaged with customers about that contract. But now that we’ve got the full suite available, I think there’s even more interest from customers.

Keep reading this interview at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/interview/program-view/2014/12/17/whats-different-about-oasis/20549835

September 8, 2014 By AMK

GSA’s OASIS contract cleared of bid protests

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) issued an official Notice to Proceed (NTP), effective Sept. 3, 2014, for One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS), a general contract procured through full and open competition among all interested businesses. As a result, both OASIS and OASIS Small Business (SB), GSA’s 100-percent small business set-aside contract, are ready for business, which means that agency customers can start using this solution set to address their complex professional services needs.

FAS Commissioner Tom Sharpe Said: “OASIS and OASIS SB have already become the solutions of choice for some of our customers. These solutions have great potential to provide agencies with more flexible full-service contract vehicle options while driving down costs for the American taxpayer. The OASIS program will strengthen the federal government by minimizing contract duplication and improving efficiency, while also delivering solid benefits to the selected OASIS and OASIS SB industry partners and maximizing opportunities for small businesses.”

OASIS and OASIS SB have become the solution of choice for the United States Air Force. In December, the Air Force announced that it would use OASIS and OASIS SB for purchasing systems engineering services, research and development services, and a host of other complex professional services instead of creating three of its own multiple-award, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts. These services had an estimated value of $1.4 billion. By using OASIS and OASIS SB, the Air Force will save years of effort, taxpayer dollars, and resources over the life of the contracts.

Key Facts

The issuance of an NTP means that federal agencies can begin using GSA’s OASIS contract solutions to purchase both commercial and non-commercial complex professional services. The NTP for OASIS Small Business (SB) was issued earlier this summer. Recently, both the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) and Government Accountability Office denied several protests filed on OASIS allowing GSA to issue the notice.

OASIS and OASIS SB were developed in response to the government’s substantial need for a hybrid, government-wide acquisition vehicle, and are designed to reduce duplication of contracting efforts across the government and provide federal agencies with comprehensive, integrated professional services contract options.

GSA expects these solutions to provide customers with best value for complex professional service requirements.

To learn more about OASIS, visit www.gsa.gov/oasis where there are details on how to request a Delegation of Procurement Authority (DPA) and attend mandatory training.

June 9, 2014 By AMK

Another contractor protests GSA’s professional services contract

More companies are piling on bid protests against the General Services Administration’s OASIS contract, according to documents filed with the Government Accountability Office.

IT service contractor Phacil Inc., is the latest of five companies to protest the award. Smartronix, Inc., VSE Corporation, American Systems Corporation, the Logistics Management Institute and Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Company all filed protests May 27. Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Company also filed bid protests during the pre-award phase of the contract, which were denied.

GSA awarded its 10-year, multibillion dollar OASIS contract to 74 companies on May 19. OASIS is governmentwide acquisition contract that offers professional services, such as financial management and engineering, scientific and logistics services. OASIS also features separate contracts for small businesses and larger firms and is valued at around $6 billion a year in agency business.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20140604/ACQ01/306040017/Another-contractor-protests-GSA-OASIS-contract

Also see earlier article on initial protests to OASIS contract award: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20140529/ACQ01/305290008/First-protests-filed-GSA-s-OASIS

Also see earlier article on the award of the OASIS contract: http://www.federaltimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014305190012

March 5, 2014 By AMK

Military looks to suppress appetite for service contracts

Defense Department officials say the 2015 budget they will formally unveil next week won’t just be about reducing the size of the uniformed military. They also intend to propose “targeted” reductions to the civilian workforce and downsize the ranks of contractor employees.

All three military departments say they’re mapping out ways to make do with less contractor support than they currently have.

Service contracting, like other areas of personnel spending, makes up a giant collective bill for the Pentagon. DoD currently spends slightly more on services — when research and development contracts are included — than it does on ships, planes, tanks and other hardware, and that’s been true for more than 10 years, according to annual statistics curated by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

It is too early to tell whether the services-to-products ratio would change in any meaningful way under DoD’s 2015 budget plan, and officials have not indicated by how much they would like to reduce their spending on services. But the Army, Air Force and Navy departments each say they are developing methodologies to prioritize their service contracts so that they buy only the services the military needs, and not necessarily all the services a local program manager might want.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/394/3571307/Military-looks-to-suppress-appetite-for-service-contracts-

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