GWACs see steady spending season — FCW
The end of the federal IT spending season has been hectic, but typical, at the big governmentwide acquisition contracts, according to the managers of the vehicles.
The end of the federal IT spending season has been hectic, but typical, at the big governmentwide acquisition contracts, according to the managers of the vehicles.
The largest governmentwide acquisition contracts expect the end of the fiscal 2019 buying season will top last year’s and are extending hours of operation to accommodate demand.
Source: GWACs anticipate bump in year end spending over FY2018 — FCW
On Aug. 9, the General Services Administration sent out a request for informationfor the next iteration of its government wide IT acquisition contract for small business vendors.
Source: GSA issues STARS III RFI — FCW
Increasingly the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security are looking to “other transaction authority” agreements to acquire emerging technologies. Procurements made under OTA are exempt from many Federal Acquisition Regulation rules and are typically limited to research, prototypes and in certain cases follow-on production.
Source: OTAs set for growth — FCW
The General Services Administration wants to hear from industry on its plans to consolidate its 24 multiple award schedules, including its popular IT Schedule 70, into a single solicitation format by the start of fiscal year 2020.
The language in the unified schedule contract the General Services Administration is closing in on by the end of fiscal 2019 won’t hold any surprises for federal contract holders, the top manager of agency’s multiple awards schedule program said.
Source: As GSA consolidates buying schedules, special item numbers are due for cuts — FCW
Lawmakers want more insight into how the Defense Department uses rapid contracting authorities, specifically other transaction agreements or OTAs.
As the complexity of federal IT procurements increase with advancing technology, small businesses can offer important assets to large contractors, particularly if they have agile skills, according to federal agency and market experts.
Federal contracting shops, including government wide acquisition vehicles and the General Services Administration, are preparing for an uptick in orders from agencies in the coming days as they get back up to speed following the shutdown.
Source: What’s next for procurement after the shutdown? — FCW
Without the cash reserves and diverse portfolios of major contractors, small businesses with contracts at shuttered agencies are facing big problems — and to top it off, they’re having problems collecting on work done before the shutdown.
Source: Small biz left holding the bag on pre-shutdown work — FCW