TArticles tagged with: GWAC

Let’s merge schedules and GWACs to create something really innovative

Combining the best features into a new program focused on simplicity, technology, and commercial practices

This article was originally published on August 3, 2020 on WashingtonTechnology.com The Multiple Award Schedule program is arguably one of the most efficient contract vehicles ever developed by the federal government. The longevity of the program is a testament to the innovation and the speed to market. As the program is not designed for complex needs spanning multiple disciplines, GSA brought those capabilities to market with various government-wide acquisition contract programs. In the current form, there are the MAS and GWAC programs that serve unique purposes. GSA’s gone through great lengths to simplify MAS — the single schedule has potential to significantly streamline acquisition as a single contract vehicle. As many benefits as MAS provides, it’s not without challenges: namely, the inflexibility of priced products and labor categories, labor category descriptions, and outdated price reductions clause. Many GWACs solve these challenges, yet the ability to be added to a contract … Continue reading Let’s merge schedules and GWACs to create something really innovative →

Best Practices for a Task Order Proposal Factory

A number of best practices will enable success in responding to rapid turnaround TO RFPs.

The trend in Federal procurement is to award more and more work through task orders on multiple award contract (MAC) vehicles. MAC contracts go by many names: Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contracts (single award or multiple award) GSA Schedules (sometimes referred to as Multiple Award Schedules and Federal Supply Schedules) Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) MAC contracts are generally awarded based on qualifications, experience, and merit. Bidders are evaluated for past performance, quality certifications (CMMI, ISO, etc.), corporate experience, security clearances, and internal systems such as cost accounting, estimating, and purchasing. Once the MAC awards are made, specific project work is issued and funded through individual task orders (TOs). Different contract vehicles use different terms for these requests: task order request (TOR), request for task order proposal (RTOP), request for task execution plan (RTEP), task order request for proposal (TO RFP), etc. When a TO RFP is issued, the … Continue reading Best Practices for a Task Order Proposal Factory →

Get Ready for the Q3 and Q4 SUPER Task Orders

Contract holders can expect a roaring third and fourth quarter 2018

Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) or Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) contract holders can expect a roaring third and fourth quarter 2018, since many bids expected in the Q1 and Q2 were stalled in procurement. Exhibit 1 lists our pick of the Top IT Task Orders, Exhibit 2 lists our picks of Top Professional Services Task Orders for Q3 and Q4. We define a Super Business Task Order as an individual task order awarded under the umbrella of an IDIQ or GWAC. We required that the IDIQ or GWAC have a selected pool of contractors, who compete on requests for task order proposals. We ensured all task orders had a distinct primary contract vehicle number and task order contract number, and that all task orders were unrestricted or set aside for small business. To find the Super Task Orders, we looked for task orders with an ultimate expiration date of no later … Continue reading Get Ready for the Q3 and Q4 SUPER Task Orders →

Congratulations, you won an IDIQ! Now what?

Statistics state that the top ten vendors will likely receive fifty-percent of all contract awards

In the past year, two major Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), Alliant Small Business and CIO-SP3 Small Business, had major on-ramps. On February 14, 2018, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced it awarded 81 vendors small business contracts. On February 28, 2018, the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) made a Pre-Award Notice to 40 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) vendors for the Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) Small Business Ramp On. NITAAC expects to award more contracts to vendors in other small business categories shortly. Statistics from the Alliant Small Business and CIO-SP3 SB GWACs tell us that the top 10 vendors will likely receive 50% of all contract awards, and approximately 10% of vendors will never see a single award, as summarized below: Alliant Small Business Summary (awarded $5 billion to 65 vendors from 2012 to February 2018) Top 10 vendors … Continue reading Congratulations, you won an IDIQ! Now what? →