LATEST UPDATE: At the April 30th Industry Day for the ITSSS re-compete, the FBI gave more information on the original procurement and expectations for the new opportunity, including the potential for a brand-new program name. Read more about the Industry Day presentation below. The Draft Statement of Work is expected in mid-June.
UPDATE: The FBI released its RFI for ITSSS on April 11th. The RFI stated that the agency expects a format very similar to the current ITSSS iteration, with a $5 billion ceiling over 10 years, beginning March 2019. The FBI expects to use 7 NAICS codes for the IDIQ, with a primary NAICS code of 541511 -Custom Computer Programming Services. Responses to the RFI are due on April 20th, along with industry day applications. That industry day will be held in two separate sessions on April 30th at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.
After a November announcement contemplating a re-compete for the FBI’s $30 billion Information Technology Supplies and Support Services (ITSSS or “IT Triple S”) BPA’s, the FBI has now released a procurement schedule for the new vehicle, which appears to be underway already.
The original contracts were awarded in 2010 through GSA’s IT Schedule 70 (click here for more on GSA’s Making it Easier program, which helps companies earn spots on Schedule 70 faster). With a $30 billion ceiling, contracts were awarded to 46 companies for consolidated IT services to the entire Department of Justice, through five task areas: supplies and related services, hardware/software and related services, operation and maintenance, technical/development, and a category that encompasses administrative, training and other activities. This was awarded with a 1-year base period and seven 1-year options, for a total of 8 years. While EZGovOpps has the list of 46 vendors, much of the actual work and spending through the contracts is not publicly reported.
After the November notice, the FBI reached out to the 46 original vendors in January and February, requesting information about the possible re-compete. Last week, the FBI released a procurement schedule which outlines the next steps:
- RFI to Industry with draft SOW 04/09/2018
- First Industry Day – CJIS 04/25/2018
- Second Industry Day – Washington, DC. 05/02/2018
- Finalize SOW 05/16/2018 – 05/31/2018
- Release Draft Solicitation to Industry 07/13/2018
- Questions from Industry 07/27/2018
- Responses to Questions from Industry 08/03/2018
- Release Final Solicitation 08/17/2018
- Proposals Due 10/05/2018
- Award 03/01/2019
In an amendment to the special notice, the FBI also released a list of anticipated solication tracks for the new opportunity:
- Agile
- Operations and Maintenance
- Engineering Services
- Development
- Information Technology Consulting
- Information Technology Scientific Services
- Cloud
- Telecomm Information Technology Services
- Cabling
- Cyber Security
- Information Technology Security Services
- Information Technology Help Desk Support
From the schedule and special notice alone, it appears this opportunity will be much more of an open competition than the prior procurement in 2010. EZGovOpps will continue to monitor this major opportunity as it moves through the industry days and the final solicitation.
Industry Day
While not much was publicly known or advertised during first ITSSS competition, the FBI specifically mentioned transparency with the industry as an objective of this new opportunity. With that in mind, the presentation put forth some details and numbers regarding the first ITSSS iteration.
While ITSSS was awarded with a $30 billion ceiling, ITSSS has only spent approximately $2 billion through 230 task orders. This may explain why the new opportunity ceiling could be much lower, currently estimated to be $5 billion. Out of the 46 vendors, 3 to 4 quotes were received by the agency for each task order. While ITSSS was available to anyone within DOJ, the top customers were the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS), Operational Technology Division (OTD), and Information and Technology Branch (ITB).
Regarding the new program, the FBI allowed industry day attendees to submit ideas for a name for the new effort. The FBI still expects full and open competition for the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This should include 12 awardees for each track. While specific opportunities will be released to each track, the FBI reserves the right to release a single opportunity to more than one track, as well as the right to set-aside work for small businesses. While the presentation gave more details on nine of the anticipated solicitation tracks, the OCIO’s closing remarks included a specific focus on enterprise use of cloud services (DOD’s own cloud efforts are ramping up too) and Agile Contracting and SAFE Agile. In a portion regarding security considerations for vendors, Supply Chain Risk Management was specifically included.
The FBI’s advice for interested vendors? Make sure your bids include a “reasonable price for work, don’t game the system;” and use Q&A opportunities to your benefit. The Draft Statement of Work is expected in mid-June.
Interested in learning more about FBI and DOJ contracting, or tracking specific procurement initiatives? Seeking a teaming partner or subcontracting opportunities? Sign up for a free trial with EZGovOpps. As the premiere market intelligence platform, EZGovOpps can provide the information needed to follow procurement trends, produce personalized opportunity forecasts, and provide custom analyst-updates for a complete understanding of the Federal contracting market today.
Don’t forget to view our full GovCon News section for more intel. For a look at the FY18 forecast for other DOJ agencies, click here.