The Department of Navy launched this department-wide commodity team in November 2009 to review common areas where requirements management and purchasing behavior could be improved to reduce total ownership costs for the DON. 

The ILS Commodity Team's recommendations for improving the acquisition of ILS services were presented to the Strategic Sourcing Working Committee in July 2010.  Implementation of the recommendations is being approached to address two commonly observed problems: 

• The need to improve competition
• Use of more appropriate contract types

Two significant solutions have been developed:

• Developing PWS templates to improve requirements definition
• Expanding use of the Navy-wide multiple award IDIQ, the Global Business Solutions (GBS contract). The GBS contracts were awarded in August 2011 and have been hosted on the NAVSEA SEAPOR-o area on the SEAPORT website, http://www.seaport.navy.mil/default.aspx. Lists of vendors and ordering guidance is available at the SEAPORT website under "CONOPS" and the SEAPORT-o reference materials. The general scope of the GBS is covered in the attached overarching statement of work.

The contract is already improving competition at the task order level and is averaging over 4 offers with each competitive award. The GBS contracts are also supporting better use of contract types by providing a convenient avenue for awarding Firm Fixed Price or Cost Plus Fixed Fee Orders