Getting Faster All The Time  

By Jeff Erlichman

Buyers for Defense and Homeland Security have a variety of contracting options to get the IT products and services they need – when they need it.

The times are good – and getting better – for you as an IT buyer for Defense or Homeland Security. Suppliers – both large and small – are competing harder for your IT product or service business.  The result is the quality you receive is increasing while prices are decreasing.

At the same time, a wide variety of agency contracting vehicles – GWACs, MACs and GSA IT Schedules – are competing just as hard to be the IT contract vehicle you choose for your IT business.

For example, NASA SEWP lowered its fee; with EAGLE, there is no fee for DHS components to use the contract; the same is true for Army’s CHESS.

Both government and its suppliers are reacting to what you as a customer  have been clamoring for – getting the product or service you need when you need it at a fair price.

If you are buying for DHS, EAGLE and FirstSource are primed and ready to serve your every need. If you are buying for Defense, Army CHESS, Air Force NETCENTS and DISA Encore are among your choices.

But if you can’t get what you need using these contract vehicles, you can turn to governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs) such as GSA Alliant, NASA SEWP or NIH ECS III. Or you can use GSA Schedule 70.

In Search Of Advice

Often the hardest tasks involved in any IT buy are defining your requirements, performing the comprehensive market research necessary and writing a statement of work (SOW) that’s in scope of the contract you want to use.

If your local contracting shop just can’t deliver in your needed timeframe, you can turn to outside agencies such as GSA, the Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) and NIH that offer assisted contracting services. For a fee they will help you define requirements, perform market research and write a strong SOW.

Another source of advice not to be overlooked is a trusted vendor partner; one who has an account team dedicated to knowing your business, anticipating your needs and has already provided service, advice and technical support.

A trusted partner can help you sort out product specifications and availability, service and integration requirements and federal procurement regulations. They can also introduce you to new solutions as they become available.

That same vendor partner can also help you identify contracts and purchasing vehicles that enable you to achieve your agency goals on time and on budget.  They can help you to determine and prioritize your business initiatives and then design a technology solution to help you achieve your goals.

Air Force: From Open/Unrestricted To Functional Area Competition

What GWACs and MACs do best is relieve buyers from doing a full and open competition starting from scratch. GWACs and MACs provide the buyer with a list of approved contractors for the requirement needed and also provide some level of protection against protests.

Contracts are let for specific task orders (TOs). Who can compete for those TOs is what makes each GWAC and/or MACs different. Some have open/unrestricted competition for each TO; others have contractors divided up into groups or functional areas where they only compete against others in their group.


Which is better? Well that depends on who you talk to.

The Air Force and DHS are living examples of trying to make their contracts customer friendly. What is interesting is they seem to be moving in opposite directions.

Open or unrestricted competition contracts – such as GSA Alliant – allow open competition among all those who are on the contract for every TO. So, theoretically every Alliant contractor could bid for every TO as primes could look at each TO and build a specific team to bid on that contract.

Air Force NETCENTS-1 is also an example of this type of contract. It was slated to expire at the end of FYO9. However an extended ordering period using the eight current contract holders is now in place. The extension runs through September 2010, to include one option year period through Sept 9, 2011, with a period of performance through September 9, 2012.

When the new Air Force NETCENTS-2 contract is finally awarded next year, it will be an example of a contract that has moved from open competition to functional categories.

Officials have done that to put an increased emphasis on turning orders around faster along with contracts featuring specialized functional categories rather than open ended contracts; the goal is to increase competition.

NETCENTS-2 buyers will determine what functional category fits their requirement and are then assured that all those contract holders within that category have been vetted for not only their expertise, but have agreed to all the terms and conditions as well as governance procedures as a condition of contract participation.

NETCENTS-2 is dividing into the following functional categories: products, network operations, application services, telephony, IT professional support and engineering services, and enterprise integration and management services.

According to officials, one functional category will be set aside for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses and two will also have separate companion contracts set aside for small businesses.

By creating smaller groups of contractors, turnaround will be quicker and the entire contracting process will be more efficient. This is quite a philosophical change from the massive IDIQ contracts of the late 1990s where it often took months and years to get technology. And when you got it; it was already obsolete.

DHS: From Functional EAGLE to EAGLE2-Unrestricted???

Consisting of five functional categories, DHS EAGLE is one of the best examples of a  functional area contract currently in use. It has been deemed a success by DHS officials who have said the contract has been instrumental in helping DHS meet its data center and network consolidation goals.

But that doesn't mean officials are not open to changing its contracting philosophy for its upcoming EAGLE-II contracts – if they will serve customer better.

In a September 23, 2009 EAGLE-II – Unrestricted RFI posted on FedBizOpps officials said:

“In reviewing the EAGLE task orders awarded to date, DHS has observed that FC3 has rarely been used and FC5 is best leveraged when included as part of each EAGLE task order requirement.

In addition, preliminary market research has indicated that the IT community's evolution has created an increase in the number of vendors with expertise in multiple subject areas.

Further, DHS has identified several lessons learned from EAGLE, including the need to accommodate pricing strategies, which allow for adjustment over the life of the contracts, as well as the use of industry best practices, such as green invoicing and quality certifications.”

Officials went on to say that EAGLE II – Unrestricted will continue to be a suite of Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity services-based contracts that will enable all DHS components to acquire IT support services to accomplish their mission objectives.

DHS has developed two strategy alternatives for aligning the award pool for EAGLE II unrestricted vendors.

Alternative 1 maintains the current EAGLE contract Functional Categories structure with some changes. Alternative 2 eliminates the use of functional categories and provides for a single award pool where all EAGLE contractors would be eligible to compete for all “unrestricted” EAGLE task order solicitations according to the RFI.

If DHS eliminated the use of functional categories it would be a significant shift in direction. Stay tuned.
   
RACE Driving

Presently at DOD, DISA is pushing the contracting envelope by introducing cloud computing capabilities with programs such as RACE (Rapid Access Compute Environment). Using RACE buyers secure “pay as you go” computing capabilities to provision websites within 24 hours.

DISA’s Center for Computing Services calls it basically true cloud computing where users get a certain amount of storage and processing and pay for as they use it. And when they are finished they can shut the service off. It’s all about the platform and cloud and a hosted work environment so users can work from wherever they are.

Programs like RACE are driving the Army, Navy and Air Force to look at new ways they can buy technology and get it to the Warfighter faster, rather than spending 2-3 years developing a new contract to deliver a capability.

Incorporating functional areas and “pay as you go” computing services are just two ways officials are working hard to make it easier for you to identify what contracts can be best used to meet your particular requirement.

The result is you get the IT you need to the Warfighter, Border Patrol Agent or First Responder on frontlines faster. Or you get the back office tools you need on a “pay as you go” basis when you need it. After all, servicing the customer is what this is all about.