2-11-21 Back in November of 2018, the Veterans Affairs (VA) Department kicked off the Veteran Enterprise Contracting for Transformation and Operational Readiness (VECTOR) contract vehicle.  It’s a professional services contract for business with a ceiling of $25 billion and has a potential to last 10 years. This was after protests stymied the program for nearly a year. Eventually, 75 service disabled, veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB) would be awarded in total. These awardees are separated into six primary task area groups...

The U.S. Army released a request for information (RFI) for the Common Hardware Systems (CHS-6) contract back on February 14, 2020 and just recently posted a second RFI on January 26, 2021. Based on the previous contract, the length will be five-years and have a value of approximately $4 billion. It is for commercial IT hardware and services and was previously a single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract held by General Dynamics. It was awarded in September of 2018 and will expire...

The General Services Administration is looking to replace its Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) multiple award vehicle. The current OASIS unrestricted vehicle, as well as OASIS Small Business, concludes in 2024. As par for the course, the preferences of federal buyers and industry feedback from Industry Days/RFIs will affect the development of the contract. Prospective firms seeking to provide input can do so via the GSA Interact website, although nothing has been posted yet. The new replacement for OASIS...

11-10-20 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued the draft solicitation for FirstSource III, a large-scale Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for commercial IT commodity products and services. The ceiling on FirstSource III is notably higher than the previous iteration at $10 billion and will be a boon for small business federal contractors specializing in IT. The previous DHS-wide FirstSource II contract was awarded back in 2012, had a $3 Billion ceiling, and concluded in September of 2020. Sourcing metrics...

10/28/20 The Polaris small business vehicle is effectively a mulligan for the GSA’s $15 billion Alliant 2 Small Business contract. Alliant 2 SB was cancelled in early July after a full year of protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and through federal court. The cancellation came at the heels of the 8(a) STARS II ceiling challenges and the ongoing protests of the 2GIT (Second Generation IT Services), marking a period of difficulties for the GAO and small businesses looking...

10/13/20 NASA’s fifth iteration of its leading government-wide information technology contract vehicle SEWP has grown almost 40% in the last fiscal year. This means over $9 billion was spent through the GWAC in FY 2020 vs $6.7 billion in FY 2019.  In addition, the quantity of orders grew from 35,000 to 46,000. Ninety different agencies used the vehicle in FY 2020. NASA has also published several new projects/accomplishments from the past last year, including converting to 100 percent telework, a...

10/2/2020 While the General Services Administration decided to cancel on-ramp awards for new 8(a) Small Businesses in the 5b Pool of OASIS back in August, they proceeded to make 123 awards for Pools 1, 3, and 4 for unrestricted business. The three pools of the OASIS professional services contract were anticipated to have 120 awards, several companies received tied scores. This led to Pool 1 receiving 42 new companies, Pool 3 receiving 40, and Pool 4 receiving 41. Over 20...

Last month, the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) released the SITE III solicitation. SITE III is a follow-on from the E-SITE (Enhanced Solutions for the Information Technology Enterprise) contract vehicle from DIA which was awarded in 2015 and expires in December of 2020. As the roman numerals would suggest, the SITE III MAC is the third in a series of DIA enterprise information technology IDIQ vehicles. The contract will have a combined ceiling of $12.6 billion over the course of ten years...