The General Services Administration recently made initial awards on an IDIQ contract vehicle for both commercial and non-commercial services. The program was open to qualified businesses of any size that had been in business for more than a couple of years, could show an ability to perform, and provide at least some level of price reasonableness assurance. No company was required to offer non-commercial services or sign up for cost-type task order awards. Sound somewhat familiar? This wasn’t the Schedules program, though, but OASIS+. If GSA can award these contracts for commercial and non-commercial services, why not add this capability to the Schedules program? While the Schedules have traditionally been for commercial item and service acquisitions, the line of what constitutes “commercial” is Read more
The General Services Administration is planning to increase the dollar ceiling on the existing Alliant II Government Wide Acquisition vehicle (GWAC) to allow time for the Alliant3 follow on to be awarded and ready. This move comes as the GSA IT Category as a whole saw substantial business in FY’24, with their top contracts accounting for well over $50 billion in business. Leading the way, as it always does (albeit under the radar) was the IT Schedule portfolio that saw over $27 billion in business. IT and professional service sales were $12.8 billion, while Alliant 2 saw $10.6 billion in total business. The 8(a) StARS contract achieved $1.5 billion while Read more
Increasing the Micro Purchase Threshold (MPT) to $25,000 and the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) to $500,000 are just two of the provisions included in the Federal Improvement in Technology Procurement Act (FITPA, H.R. 9595). Although intended to streamline IT and cloud acquisition these changes would have an impact across the federal market. Similar legislation, though without the proposed MPT change, is under consideration in the Senate. The SAT hasn’t increased since the mid-1990’s, nearly 30 years ago. Although “simplified” is a relative term as such acquisitions still bring plenty of rules with them, the overall intent of expanding the universe of procurements eligible for relatively fewer rules is a sound idea. Similarly, the MPT hasn’t changed in over six years, mostly due to concerns that not enough data had been collected on acquisitions at that level to determine whether or not the government was getting good deals. Now, however, the data should be available and, along with programs like GSA’s Commercial Platform that builds in transparency, the government should have enough tools to be able to ensure that they get good deals even at a higher level. Another key feature of each bill would enshrine the ability of federal agencies to pay in advance when they obtain cloud-based subscription pricing. This expands and puts into law a GSA policy change issued earlier this year. Both the House and Senate measures have industry support. The Alliance for Digital Innovation recently said in a letter to key Congressional officials that “H.R. 9595, if passed, will facilitate a competitive, flexible procurement environment that encourages innovation, reduces acquisition delays, and creates new opportunities…”. Although time is short in this Congress to pass any legislation that is not deemed essential, these measures show a positive trend that could make enacting legislation in the next session easier. All of industry should get behind these efforts and promote acquisition methods that improve the delivery of solutions to federal agencies.
Even though Congress is not currently in session, what they do, or don’t do, can have a direct impact on your government business. As we’ve said before it is essential that government contractors make clear to their elected officials the important role government business has on economies in their district or state. Here are two recent examples of what we’re talking about:
1. The Real Possibility Of Not Having FY’25 Appropriations Until Next Year: With the presidential race now slightly favoring former President Donald Trump, conservatives in both chambers are putting pressure on leaders to delay final FY’25 appropriations action until the next Congress. They’re betting that Republicans will control at least one chamber, as well as the White House. This could result in one of two outcomes. First, a delay in appropriations action until March or April. Second, the increased chance that there may be a year-long CR for FY’25. One is bad, while the other is worse. Bloomberg Government recently showed that FY’24 DOD spending was well below FY’23 levels in the first two quarters, likely in large part to the delay in getting appropriations bills passed. In addition, even large businesses will feel an impact of a full-year CR, which equates to an actual decrease in spending. Playing politics with national security and economic stability should be off the table.
2. A Significant Number of Representatives Previously Voted to Withold Contract and Grant Money: During Congressional consideration of the current CR, approximately 100 House members voted against keeping the government open, jeopardizing $100 million in procurement and grant money. While the needs of government contractors may not always be paramount, this money is about more than that. Meeting missions is essential regardless of the time of year. Each of these examples show that companies need to do a better job of telling their government business story. Jobs can equal votes and more money for Congressional campaigns. Make sure you’re educating your elected officials.
Government contractors can be excused if they’re a bit paranoid about whether federal agencies are seemingly looking at their every move. Agency IG’s, DCAA, DCMA, DOL, SBA, and EPA are just some of the entities that can knock on a contractor’s door. A recent Wall Street Journal editorial also makes clear that the thick clouds of government oversight aren’t limited to contractors. “Companies representing about 40% of the market capitalization of the S&P 500 are under investigation by the Justice Department for something,” wrote the Journal on Read more