Legal wrangling continues to delay the implementation of the DISA DEOS cloud contract, an acquisition managed by GSA.  DISA has yet to see one order more than 10 months after award.  That’s no record, unfortunately, as DOD’s JEDI contract has been in litigation on both a pre- and post-award basis for over two years.  Added to the costs and delays specific to these two programs is a belief that large Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts simply cost too much and take too long to put in place, especially when technology and solutions change quickly.  What good is a contract that takes less than 30 days to buy from when the contract, itself, takes five or more years to be useable? 

Federal agencies that want agile acquisition to match their agile solutions are already using faster buying methods, such as Other Transaction Authority.  Small Business Innovation Research programs are also growing in popularity, especially when obtaining cutting edge technology.  On the cloud front, DOD continues to fulfill customer needs through existing contracts that contain many of the features of either DEOS or JEDI.  The fighting over DEOS and JEDI is a side show as the real work of government proceeds.

Federal acquisition professionals and their internal customers may decide that the basic large IDIQ model has had its day.  While there simply aren’t enough acquisition professionals to conduct open market procurements for all requirements, smaller, shorter-term vehicles may be developed.  We understand the irony of this since recent efforts have been to trim the number of vehicles, but if those programs can come on line faster, their popularity may rebound.  Another idea is to increasingly use non-priced contracts.  This will speed the award of larger contracts, but require more work at the customer agency level.

Contractors with large IDIQ portfolios cannot assume that the status quo will remain.  Recommending solutions to important customers can help you stay ahead of the game and ensure that your company isn’t caught with a 1998 contract model when agencies shift to something that fits the 2020’s.  You can be part of the change or play catch up.