Page 4 - FCW, May 2017

CDW-G DELIVERS
NETCENTS-2 CONTRACT
DELIVERS ON PRICE AND PRODUCTS
The USAF technology acquisition contract has evolved as the technology itself evolves.
NTEREST—AND SALES—in
the Air Force’s NETCENTS-2 contract has grown over the last couple of years. Defense agencies are looking to increase interoperability and save money on information technology products and support.
Since its debut in 2013, the Air Force’s NETCENTS-2 family
of IDIQ contracts has delivered
a wide array of products and services from a variety of vendors. This is intended to help the Air Force and other eligible defense agencies standardize networks, encourage interoperability and manage IT requirements from an enterprise perspective.
This is the primary reason the contract has been so successful,
says Sheryl McCurnin, senior manager of federal programs for CDW-G. “NETCENTS has a wide scope of product offerings that address the Air Force’s net-centric needs,” says McCurnin “It helps the users develop their requirements entirely within a large vendor prime community who can respond with an array of possible solutions.”
There are no contract usage fees with NETCENTS-2. “This means better pricing right out of the box,” says Gena Howard, Program Manager, Application Services, AFLCMC/HICI. NETCENTS-2 has awarded contracts to a number of small and large vendors, which provides increased competition, driving prices for IT and netcentric products, services, and solutions down even more.
The NETCENTS-2 contracts certainly run more efficiently. In fiscal year 2015, delays in making some awards combined with the task of getting the word out to the customers in the field, left little time for orders to be placed against the NETCENTS-2 contract, says Howard.
That is no longer the case. Many areas covered by the NETCENTS-2 contract have experienced impressive growth over the last year, says Howard. For example, there was a 13 percent increase in the number of task orders awarded for FY16 for Application Services—full and open contracts and an increase of 57 percent
for the Network Operations and Infrastructure—small business IDIQ Contracts. The Applications Services—small business IDIQ has
NETCENTS-2 AT A GLANCE
NETCENTS-2 is a portfolio of seven-year ID/IQ contracts with 77 vendors. It’s a primary source of net- centric and IT products, services, and solutions. The contract is mandatory for the Air Force and open to all Department of Defense services. The contract offerings are split into three primary categories:
1. Net-Centric Products: including networking equipment, servers/storage/peripherals/multimedia, software, and identity management
2. Application Services: including sustainment, migration, integration, training, help desk support, and testing
3. Network Operations and Infrastructure: including solutions for network operations, production, research and development, and C4ISR capabilities
The time is approaching for Application Services small business contractors to recertify as a small business. The Air Force anticipates some small businesses will transition into the full and open IDIQ pool of vendors, provided they meet certain criteria as defined in their contracts.