The General Services Administration first issued its ill-fated Alliant II Small Business GWAC solicitation in February of 2018, almost six years ago.  With protests continuing over POLARIS, the similarly plagued intended successor, GSA senior leadership must answer the question: “Is another small business IT GWAC needed now?”.  The federal IT market has most definitely moved on, changing in some significant ways over the past six years. The primacy of cybersecurity requirements, increased emphasis on supply chains (see below), and socio-economic additions to contracts are just some examples.  GSA also has an outstanding record of small business participation in its existing IT contracts.  The GSA Schedules program, 8(a) STARS, VETS 2, Alliant II, and pending Alliant 3 contracts all or will offer excellent opportunities for small businesses to sell IT solutions to federal agencies.  The Schedules program alone routinely delivers 30% or more of its prime contract dollars to small businesses.  With a conservative estimate that IT Schedule business accounts for $20 billion in annual sales, that translates into $6 billion a year, or more, through just that one program.  That’s almost certainly more than POLARIS would realize, especially in its first few years.  Similarly, established acquisition vehicles are popular with federal customers.  Experience has shown that both agencies and contractors prefer using acquisition vehicles with which they are already familiar.  Memories of Alliant I SB have certainly faded as other contract methods have filled the gap.  Continuing to work on POLARIS needlessly ties up GSA resources and there absolutely is a cost to the agency of defending a seemingly non-stop protest parade.  The IT Category doesn’t have unlimited resources, and, like the rest of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, which just underwent a thorough realignment, it must ensure that it is making the best use of those resources to meet the needs of today’s customers.  It’s time for the IT Category to catch up with their siblings.  POLARIS isn’t needed to make GSA’s IT small business good news stories, but other programs could certainly use those resources to tell theirs.