Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

GSA releases new IT modernization RFI in post-shutdown procurement deluge

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The General Services Administration released two pre-cursors to major acquisitions last week with the release of the draft solicitation for the $8 billion back-office cloud procurement and a request for information to expand the Centers of Excellence initiative.

The Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and GSA launched a major cloud and IT modernization effort by announcing an industry day on Feb. 26 in Washington, D.C.

And the Office of Personnel Management is exploring how to create a central portal for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.

These are just a few of the more than 4,700 requests for proposals, RFIs and awards released on FedBizOpps.gov in the week after the partial government shutdown ended, opening up the acquisition floodgates.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook/2019/02/gsa-releases-new-it-modernization-rfi-in-post-shutdown-procurement-deluge/

Can a small business take over DISA’s $1 billion perimeter security contract?

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The Defense Information Systems Agency’s perimeter cybersecurity has been managed by a large contractor for almost 10 years and now the agency wants to know if a small or underutilized business can take over.

The agency released two requests for information June 20 for its Gateway Security Engineering program: one looking for responses from small businesses, including 8(a), service-disabled veteran-owned and women-owned; and another soliciting information from vendors in historically underutilized business zones, or HUBZones.

The Gateway Security program manages security at the intersection of the Defense Department’s non-classified network, known as NIPRNet, and the public internet. “It provides support by developing, testing, implementing, and maintaining secure interoperable solutions at the Gateways,” according to the RFIs.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2018/06/can-small-business-take-over-disas-1b-perimeter-security-contract/149152/

Vendors can still weigh in on GAO’s 5-year tech contract

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The Government Accountability Office is looking for an industry partner to help shepherd its technology improvements over the next five years, and prospective vendors now have a little more time to shape that acquisition.

GAO issued a request for information in December, with an original response date of Jan. 24. That due date has been extended to 2 p.m. on Feb. 2. As this is only an RFI and not an official solicitation, vendors don’t need to participate in order to be considered for the final award. However, the acquisition is still in the formative stages, and information provided through the RFI will affect the scope and form of the final solicitation.

The RFI and other market research being conducted now will inform the eventual strategy for upgrading all of GAO’s IT systems, with a focus on moving to the cloud—where appropriate—and advancing the office’s mobile capabilities.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/01/vendors-can-still-weigh-gaos-5-year-tech-contract/145408/

NOAA scouting small businesses for help securing data from satellites

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The agency best known for its use of satellites and sensors to pump out weather and climate data for forecasters needs some extra cybersecurity help.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is looking for small businesses that might be able to help with the IT security of its data centers and systems, as well as the data flow of everything between them and its satellites, according to an agency request for information.

NOAA’s “Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) requires an IT Security Program to implement required security controls to ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information resources integral to the successful operation of OSPO satellite ground systems, product processing and distribution systems, and Admin LANs,” the agency’s RFI says.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/noaa-scouting-small-businesses-help-securing-data-satellites/

Small businesses should respond to ‘sources sought’ and RFIs

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The Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) reminds our clients — and especially small businesses — that it’s very important for you to respond to what are known as “Sources Sought” and “Requests for Information” published by federal agencies periodically in FedBizOpps.

FBO

When an agency issues a Sources Sought or an RFI, they are trying to identify sources that can fulfill their buying needs and determine whether there is potential for a small business set-aside and obtain other marketplace information for acquisition planning purposes. 

“Some vendors may not take the time to respond to a Sources Sought/RFI.  Instead, they may focus their efforts on preparation for a bid when the solicitation comes out,” explains Sherry Savage, Program Manager for the Defense Logistics Agency’s Procurement Technical Assistance Program.  “For the vendor, however, the Sources Sought/RFI is their chance to influence the acquisition strategy.  If capable companies do not respond, the opportunity for a set-aside may be lost.”

Sources Sought and RFIs can be found using the “Advanced Search” function in FedBizOpps.  More than 6,400 of this type of procurement opportunity were published in calendar year 2016.

When responding to a Sources Sought or an RFI, it’s important to pay attention to the detail specified as needed by the federal agency.  “Provide thoughtful input — don’t just send a capabilities statement,” advises Ms. Savage.  “The vendor should put together a personalized package that concisely answers the questions asked in the Sources Sought/RFI.”

If you have questions regarding a particular Sources Sought or RFI, you should contact the government agency’s point of contact (POC) provided in the notice.

And, of course, for assistance with or advice about responding to a particular Sources Sought or RFI, feel free to contact your nearest GTPAC procurement counselor found here: http://gtpac.org/team-directory.  (Outside the State of Georgia?  Find a PTAC located near you here: http://www.aptac-us.org/find-a-ptac)

For more details about how to respond to a Sources Sought or an RFI, please consult our earlier article on this subject at: http://gtpac.org/2010/09/what-is-a-sources-sought-heres-the-answer

Here comes GSA’s next government-wide telecom contract vehicle

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The General Services Administration’s information technology contracting office is seeking industry feedback on plans for the next governmentwide contract vehicle for telecommunications and related services.

GSA is in the process of developing Network Services 2020, or NS2020, a slate of approved vendors offering everything from basic telephone and data services to niche satellite and infrastructure contracts for federal agencies. The request for information posted April 8, 2014 seeks industry feedback on how GSA should structure that global contracting vehicle.

GSA will begin soliciting bids in fiscal 2015 from vendors who want to be part of the NS2020 contract vehicle, according to the RFI. Contracts with the vendors approved under NS2020 will likely be available for 15 years or for 10 years with five option years, the RFI said.

NS2020 will replace Networx, a similar global contract vehicle for telecom services that’s set to expire soon, but will include a broader suite of services.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2014/04/here-comes-gsas-next-governmentwide-telecom-contract-vehicle/82210/?oref=nextgov_cio_briefing

Hoping to sell to the government? Then start being a P.E.S.T.

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When my business entered into government contracting in 2005, it did not take long for me to realize that we had entered a whole new world after years in the private sector. Certifications and set-asides were unfamiliar concepts; ones that frankly made me a bit uncomfortable, as I wondered whether I wanted my company to get “special” consideration because of my gender or the size of our operation.

What I have learned is that there really is no “special consideration” but just an opportunity to level the playing field. While certifications can get your business noticed by government agencies, being a woman-owned, veteran-owned, small business, HUB Zone and/or 8(a) organization guarantees you nothing.

This may seem intuitive to some, but it is a barrier to success for many more.

So how can a small business best leverage the power of the set-aside?  By becoming a P.E.S.T. — that is, by being persistent, educated, specific and transparent.

Keep reading this article by Lisa Firestone at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/small-business-advice-hoping-to-sell-to-the-government-then-start-being-a-pest/2013/12/19/3f12d3b6-68f4-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html 

 

Cloud is next step for HUD’s IT infrastructure

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The Department of Housing and Urban Development already outsourced much of its network infrastructure under its HITS contract. Now the agency wants to take its infrastructure one step further and put it in the cloud.

HUD held its second industry day June 24 for its HUDNet program, which eventually will replace the $800 million HITS program, run by Lockheed Martin and Hewlett-Packard.

“HUDNet is a program that is looking at all the constituent pieces of the HITS program, all of its management pieces, the management framework around HITS,” said Mark Day, HUD’s chief technology officer, at a recent conference. “We are in the acquisition strategy phase. There will be RFPs coming out of this, but I can’t go much further than that.”

Day said the difference between outsourced or managed service contract and cloud is the elasticity. He said in a sense, HUD is in a private cloud that is virtualized, highly scalable and fairly agile.

“What is not there in a managed services contract is the business model of cloud. We do not have the elasticity. Prices do not go down when we use less,” Day said. “Managed services is what you might consider the high water mark price. If we ever bought that much of the infrastructure, we pay for that much of the infrastructure. In a cloud, you go up and down as your needs change. That is really what we are doing. It’s not a technical move for us. It’s a business model move in the procurement realm.”

Along with the two industry days, HUD issued a request for information in February.

In the RFI, the agency detailed five main areas, including hosting of its infrastructure in the cloud, self provisioning of capacity as needed and end-to-end monitoring of performance.

HUD is accepting comments, suggestions and recommendations on how to proceed through July 22.

HUD awarded Lockheed and EDS, which HP eventually bought, the HITS contract in 2005 to provide essentially all of HUD’s IT infrastructure, information processing, telecommunications, storage, enterprise middleware, operating systems, end user computing and communications devices (except desktop telephony) and related needs on a nationwide, agencywide basis, as organized around 24 core functions reflecting HUD’s various service needs.

No matter the approach HUD eventually chooses for its infrastructure, Day said the agency will need to do a few things, starting with improving the skills of its workforce.

“Now I need very savvy people to oversee that outsourced work. They need to understand IT, they need to understand metrics and management and remote management, if you will,” he said. “And that is an interesting grouping of skills when in fact they will never do actual IT work for you. So how do you get the right people with both a savvy understanding of the subject and an understanding of the management of that subject and how to measure that subject? It’s an interesting problem.”

Day said HUD is looking at career ladders for employees to gain both of these skills.

Metrics is another challenge for HUD. He said the TechStat sessions has helped ensure the agency has the right ones for a limited number of high priority programs.

“We have used TechStat to inform the interest level of our programs and others in doing our internal approach,” he said. “When they see they’ve got to do in front of OMB, it’s very easy to decide we ought to do it internally first. We ought to have the practice right. We ought to have the answers right. And we ought to in fact emulate that because it has driven good decision making.”

Day added TechStat sessions helped HUD focus in on the projects and metrics that really matter the most and how do they drive the agency’s mission. HUD culled their list down to seven from 38 major IT projects.

“The ones that are the same are the obvious ones schedule, budget and time and that type of thing. But really the other metric most people are not doing well is what is the business outcome for this project and how well are we actually meeting the business outcome? And if we are off schedule, what is the opportunity loss? If we are overbudget, what is the cost of that budget compared to the return on investment for that project?”

He added it’s a matter of figuring out the business goal of each project and then measuring what success looks like.

Day said TechStat also has helped HUD instill more rigor into the oversight of their IT programs.

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— by Jason Miller, Executive Editor, Federal News Radio – July 5, 2011 – Copyright 2011 by FederalNewsRadio.com. All Rights Reserved. Published at http://federalnewsradio.com/?sid=2446919&nid=35

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