Your customers' IT requirements will not fall into a “one-size-fits-all” category. There are more contracting vehicles available than ever. You need to know the different types of vehicles, their strengths and challenges, and how each can work to your advantage. Prepare a matrix of the types of contracting vehicles. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Use the matrix to determine which acquisitions can be streamlined by using vehicles that already exist that can help you meet your requirements.
With the advent of new contract vehicles, acquisition personnel are no longer subjected to an 18 month process to award a contract for IT purchase. Streamlined contracting vehicles have replaced the cumbersome process previously seen as the norm.
Some of the contract vehicles that can streamline your ordering process are Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), Multi-Agency Contracts (MACs), Enterprise-Wide Contracts, and Schedules. Your matrix may help answer the question of which vehicle is the right one to meet the IT requirement in front of you.
The attributes of a GWAC are many. Because the vendors are already prequalified, task orders and delivery orders cannot be protested. Although a GWAC may be housed in and managed by an agency outside your organization, they can be used throughout the Federal Government by any agency whose acquisition fits the specifications of the contract.
GWACs exist throughout Government. For example, NITAAC manages three, CIO-SP2i , IW2nd , and ECS III. Among those offered by other agencies are the General Services Administration's Millennia and Millennia Lite; the Department of Commerce's COMMITS contract; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's SEWP III. The Office of Management and Budget designated the NITAAC GWACs with Executive Agent status for governmentwide acquisition of IT which allows for providing IT products and services to all Government agencies.
Depending on the stipulations of the contract, GWACs can be used for task or delivery orders. Extra documentation for Determination and Finding (D&F) as required in the Economy Act does not apply to GWACs.
MACs are managed by one agency for use throughout the Federal Government. Task and delivery orders require competition. The IT MACs are also governed by the Clinger Cohen Act. Acquisitions must include a D&F that confirms that the interagency acquisition is in the best interest of the Government and cannot be obtained as conveniently or economically through a private acquisition, as required by the Economy Act.
Schedules are Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) vehicles established by GSA to assist the Federal Government purchaser. As with other vehicles, an acquisition requires competition.
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