Page 6 - FCW, October 2017

CDW-G DELIVERS
ARMY’S NEXT CONTRACT MOVE
Army ITES contract vehicle evolves to keep pace with technology and solutions.
ECHNOLOGY AND PEOPLE’S expectations of technology continue
to change and evolve at an increasingly rapid pace. The manner in which government agencies procure technology, particularly the massive IDIQ contract vehicles that now dominate the scene, is running
hard to try and keep up.
The Army’s IT Enterprise Solution
(ITES) contracts are a good example of that; especially the hardware-specific contract ITES- 3H. When its predecessor ITES-2H started up in 2006, products were a singular focus. The Army and other government buyers could go to the contract and purchase individual computers, servers, network routers, and switches and other IT systems.
ITES-3H is still considered a products contract, but the notion of what constitutes a product
is expanding. ITES-2H always included integration services,
so buyers could tie the products they bought into existing IT infrastructures. Now there’s a shifting focus, albeit still with a tilt toward hardware products, to more solution-oriented equipment.
The initial statement of work
for the five-year, $5 billion ITES-3H made that clear. “\[The contract\] is intended to be a solutions-based contract vehicle,” it states. “\[It includes\] items that are for the fielding of a complete system,
or as part of the total design solution for all equipment items provided on the contract.” The required services are distinct
from the professional services offered under the ITES-2S contract, which provides such things as business process re-engineering, information systems security, information assurance, and network support organizations need to maintain and improve their IT infrastructures.
With ITES-3H, services are aimed more toward assembling products as a complete solution. More recently, says Sheryl McCurnin, senior manager at CDW-G, there’s been an increased interest shown by ITES-3H users in “as-a-service”
of protests delayed it until early 2016. In the meantime, the older contract had to be extended. The protests were seen by many as a confirmation of how valuable the ITES contracts have become to the industry, and how vital companies consider being on the Army Computer, Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS) contracts. ITES-3H is one of the CHESS contracts.
If a company doesn’t have a CHESS contract in its portfolio, it’s now quite difficult to sell to the Army. The Army has designated
With ITES-3H, services are
aimed more toward assembling products as a complete solution.
offerings, such as managed print solutions. Customers are inquiring and the ITES program office is responding by investigating what kind of similar offerings we can provide under ITES-3H. “What does Storage-as-a-Service look like, for example, as part of a products- related solution.”
As customers and contractors evolve and want to package more solutions type deals, they are looking at what terminology can be used to drive more of those types of sales through the ITES-3H contract, says McCurnin.
GOOD MOVE
ITES-3H was originally expected to be awarded in 2014, but a raft
CHESS as its primary source for commercial IT, and is specifically tasked with conducting consolidated buys for desktops, notebooks, and other systems
for the Army at the enterprise level. It’s also responsible for accrediting IT suppliers as meeting Army technical requirements; something all companies providing IT products through ITES-3H are required to meet.
There were eventually eight large contractors selected for the ITES-3H award, along with nine small businesses. The small business component of ITES-3H is important to the Army, which has struggled in the past with ways to promote small business providers. Those