Page 15 - FCW, May/June 2018
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                                   Another big difference for both users and contract holders was the use of NITAAC’s electronic Government Ordering System (e-GOS) which was designed to streamline the acquisition process for all of the NITAAC contracts. The e-GOS has proven to be an improvement, but initially it was “a bit of a learning curve” for both contract holders and customers, Robinson says.
Perhaps the biggest draw for CIO-CS is the flexibility that’s been built into the contract from the beginning. In the past, agency needs were fairly predictable over time, and contracts reflected that. It could take a long time to change the list of products and services they offered. Now, however, technology itself changes very quickly as can agency mission requirements, and newer contracts need to reflect that.
Gauer believes CIO-CS operates with the high degree of flexibility this calls for. Its technical review process (TRP) is designed to rapidly add new products to the contract so it’s not a long, drawn- out process that takes weeks or months, she says.
“We guarantee that TRPs will
be reviewed within 72 hours,” she says, “but the majority are revised within 24 hours,” and contract holders or agency customers can get something done even faster by calling the customer support center.
CIO-CS also offers a strategic sourcing capability called Agency Enterprise Portfolio IT Category (EPIC), which enables agencies to
set up their own strategic source contracts against CIO-CS. NITAAC and an agency work together to establish the requirements, and they are then competed among the CIO-CS contract holders.
That also allows for added flexibility, Gauer says, in that
“it’s tailored for the agencies’ requirements as a subset of CIO-CS offerings, allowing users to see the products, and compare and order all in a portal designed to be similar to large, online retailers.”
NITAAC also offers Assisted Acquisitions to help customers who aren’t as familiar with the contract, or who don’t have a contracting officer in place to help with a procurement solution, Robinson says.
“They assist customers with the acquisition process from start to finish,” he says, “and work with them for an additional fee.”
Despite the evolution of CIO- CS to having its own fully fledged identity, vendors such as CDW•G still see the full group of NITAAC contracts as giving them an advantage.
“Having the three of them (CIO-CS, CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business) allows for a good arrangement between contract holders, which in turn provides
a good array of options for the customer,” Robinson says. “The SP3 contracts are service related, and the CIO-CS contract can supply products the other contracts can’t.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CDW•G’S OFFERINGS, PLEASE VISIT: CDWG.COM/CIO-CS
CIO-CS AT A GLANCE
Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle
Base period of performance from May 1, 2015, to April 30, 2020, with option from May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2025
Total contract ceiling of $20 billion
Intended for NIH users, though it’s also open to other civilian and defense health-related segments
IT commodities can be deployed using both on-premises and managed service models
Rapid TRP enables commodities to be added in real time
Contract Access Fee is 0.35 percent
                           











































































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