Jennifer Sakole is the principal analyst for Federal Information Solutions at Deltek.
Spring has reached Washington, D.C., bringing with it signs of growth and renewal. Those themes are spilling over into federal information technology procurement, with half of the Top 20 IT contract vehicles, as measured by reported spending in fiscal 2014, expected to be recompeted throughout the remainder of calendar year 2015.
Deltek has reported that, historically, half of all federal IT spending goes through Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts. For federal IT vendors, the anticipated recompetes represent opportunities to maintain, expand or enter this market via preferred IT vehicles
Fiscal 2014 reported spending on the Top 20 IT vehicles totaled $26.8 billion; 35 percent of the total is associated with the 10 IDIQs to be competed in 2015. While there are three Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) to be competed or on-ramped, the majority of the 10 are agency-specific IDIQ procurements for the Army.
Army IDIQs
Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services (RS3): The Army’s top two IT IDIQs for spending in FY 2014 – Rapid Response, Third Generation (R2-3G) and Strategic Services Sourcing (S3) – had combined obligations totaling $1.7 billion. The two contracts are being consolidated, and the solicitation for the new $37.4 billion IDIQ, RS3, was released March 25 with proposals due April 24.
Information Technology Enterprise Services (ITES-3S): As the third most-utilized Army IT IDIQ in FY 2014, ITES-2S had more than $790 million in reported IT obligations last fiscal year. The solicitation date for the follow-on – which has a $12 billion ceiling value – has slipped, and the ordering period for ITES-2S was recently extended 36 months, to expire in April 2018. The government has indicated that the ITES-3S draft RFP is anticipated to be released in Q3 FY14; Deltek estimates the final solicitation will be released in September 2015.
Aviation and Missile Command Enterprise Service Solutions (ESS):ESS is the follow-on to AMCOM Expedited Professional and Engineering Support Services (AMCOM EXPRESS) – a well-utilized, IT professional services IDIQ – with more than $1 billion in reported obligations for fiscal 2014. The follow-on solicitation will be competed under four domains: Business & Analytical (B&A), Logistics (LOG), Programmatic (PROG) and Technical (TECH). The ESS TECH domainwill focus on IT professional services; Deltek estimates the solicitation will be released in April 2015, at the earliest.
Army Desktop and Mobile Computing (ADMC 3): The current ADMC 2 contracts are used to procure Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) IT equipment and services, and are set to expire in April 2016. Deltek estimates the solicitation for the AMDC 3 will be released in October 2015. To date, there have been more than $3.5 billion in reported obligations on ADMC 2; Deltek estimates that the ceiling value for ADMC 3 will be in line with the ceiling of ADMC 2, $5 billion.
GWACS
Alliant 2 Unrestricted (A2) and Alliant 2 Small Business (A2SB): The draft RFPs for A2 and A2SB were released on March 31; Deltek estimates that final solicitations will be released in November 2015. The combined ceiling value of the two GWACs is $65 billion. The current contracts for Alliant and Alliant SB have been well-utilized, with $2.6 billion and $990 million in FY 2014 reported obligations, respectively.
Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resources (STARS II) Open Season: The government has indicated that as many as 50 percent of the current STARS II GWAC holders are scheduled to graduate the 8(a) program prior to 2017; as such, an on-ramp will be necessary to ensure adequate levels of competition. STARS II has seen steadily increasing levels of obligations, with more than $1 billion reported in fiscal 2014. STARS II has a $10 billion ceiling, and the incumbent contracts are anticipated to expire in 2021. Deltek estimates the on-ramp solicitation will be released in May 2015.
Additionally, Deltek anticipates the solicitations for Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Enterprise System Development (ESD II) and Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Encore III to be released this year in May and September, respectively. For those of you looking even further ahead into CY 2016, note that the government just announced that there will be an on-ramp for CIO-SP3 SB; Deltek is estimating the solicitation to be released in March 2016.
Vendors will always consider whether the investment required for bidding on a contract will be returned; knowing these vehicles are being utilized by the government should help ease the decision-making process.
Top IT vehicle recompetes offer fresh opportunities
