The request for proposals for a massive, government-wide telecommunications contract is expected any day, and the agreement could have significant implications at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
The 15-year, $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions telecom contract vehicle is part of the General Services Administration’s broader Network Services 2020 strategy, and over the summer GSA added a new clause to EIS language that aims to entice the Defense Department. DoD wasn’t part of the predecessor Networx contract vehicle, but the new clause is in the EIS contract’s geographic coverage section and better aligns the contract with the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation System.
DISA handles a huge swath of DoD telecommunications services and products, so the EIS contract vehicle could have impact on how the agency handles telecom acquisitions.
The final solicitation was originally expected in July, however a wealth of responses to the draft RFP — more than 1,600 comments — prompted GSA to push back the release until later this month. The agency posted a presolicitation notice on FedBizOps on Sept. 10, which is required at least 15 days before the official solicitation is released.
GSA identified a number of issues through comments on the draft RFP, including removing dial-up as a mandatory offering to be considered for the contract and allowing vendors the option to bid on VOIP or Circuit Switched Voice Services, rather than requiring them to offer both to quality.
The agency worked through more than 175 changes from the draft RFP and is almost ready to get the solicitation process moving along.
When the RFP drops, GSA would like agencies to start developing transition plans to make the jump from the current telecoms vehicle, Networx.
The Networx vehicle was extended by three years to 2020 to ensure there is enough transition time. Even so, GSA wants agencies to get ahead on the process.
“Once the RFP is out, the agencies will have enough information about what’s going to be in the resulting contract to develop a high-level agency-wide transition plan,” EIS Transition Manager Debbie Hren said during a May industry day.
Transition plan templates are available on GSA’s EIS Interact site.
