General Services Administration officials quickly rescinded an e-mail message
sent to small businesses telling them they had won spots on its major small
business governmentwide IT contract, according to an e-mail message obtained by
Washington Technology and Federal Computer Week.
Officials wrote in a follow-up message, which came a day after the award
notice, that they were checking prices again for the 8(a) Streamlined Technology
Acquisition Resources for Services (STARS) II contract. The message contained an
unsubtle suggestion that bidders might want to offer lower prices.
“Any part of previous communications from GSA stating or implying that
offerors were deemed apparently successful is hereby rescinded,” agency
officials wrote. “This discussion e-mail serves as notice that GSA has made the
decision to hold additional discussions, with an emphasis on pricing.”
STARS II is a 5-year, $10 billion indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity
(IDIQ) IT contract. GSA issued the first solicitation for the GWAC in July 2009.
Officials expect an award this month, according to GSA.gov.
GSA officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment..
Prices are becoming a central theme in the government as Congress and the
Obama administration attempte to rein in spending.
GSA is giving the 8(a) small businesses time to reexamine the prices they
offered in their initial bids and adjust the pricing to “amplify its potential
to be favorably considered,” according to the follow-up message.
The opportunity for price revisions is not merely a request for an update,
but it will play into GSA’s evaluations. “This is a competitive 8(a) procurement where comparative analysis with other
offerors’ pricing in response to this [Final Proposal Revision] opportunity, and
possibly other price analysis, will occur in order to assess price
reasonableness [or] unreasonableness,” GSA wrote.
In the rescission e-mail message, GSA gave companies pricing averages from
the initial bids as a guide for what’s been offered so far to let companies know
where their prices compare to other bidders.
Observers speculated that someone may have sent out an email too soon, or a
senior management official could have recognized in the 12th hour that the
agency needed look over the prices again.
“Oops,” Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, said about
the initial message.
Either way, the STARS GWAC is “a crown jewel” of GSA and its small business
contracts. It’s next to the GSA’s Schedules in importance to the agency, he
said.
The follow-up rescission message may be awkward, but, Allen said, it’s better
than being criticized throughout the life of the contract because of high
prices.
Nevertheless, the small-business aspect, such as getting a good mix of
various business types, likely would get officials’ attention from the outset
before prices, he said. STARS offers customer agencies an avenue to boost their
small-business contacting percentages, which has helped to make the GWAC
successful.
Across the government though, pricing has become another essential topic in a
time when funding is set to diminish. It’s important enough that the Defense
Department made Shay Assad, a senior procurement policy official, the first
director of defense pricing in May.
That appointment points to the weight of the pricing issue, said Hope Lane, a
government contract consultant at Aronson Consulting.
“The government has to start implementing austerity measures,” said Lane, who
focuses on GSA Schedules.
It isn’t surprising that GSA may have rescinded its award notice in order to
make contractors improve their prices, she said. As agencies hunt for the best
value for their money, GSA’s STARS GWAC has to prove that it can actually save
money, or GSA will lose business to another IDIQ hosted by another agency, she
said.
“IT, in particular, is a competitive market among GWACs,” she said.
This mix-up may cost GSA by way of protests to the contract. Allen said the
likelihood of protests just jumped much higher.
About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is acquisition editor for Federal Computer Week –
June 22, 2011 – http://washingtontechnology.com/Articles/2011/06/22/GSA-rescinds-STARS-II-GWAC-award.aspx?p=1
