Page 38 - FCW, September/October 2019

Aug. 1, 2017 — EIS contract awarded
“Lack of ATO isn’t a game stopper, but it isn’t helpful”.
— BOB WOODS, TOPSIDE CONSULTING
Dec. 6, 2018 — Transition deadline extended to 2023
March 31, 2019 — Deadline for agencies to release EIS solicitations
Sept. 30, 2019 — Deadline for agencies to issue EIS task orders
March 31, 2020 — GSA will limit use of extended contracts for agencies that have not made task-order awards
March 31, 2022 — 90% of agencies’ telecom inventory must be moved to EIS
“Ultimately, the final steps of the transition are contingent upon agency budgets and oversight”.
— BILL ZIELINSKI, GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
May 31, 2023 — Current Networx, WITS and LSA telecom contracts expire
Source: General Services Administration
IT Modernization
modernization effort into smaller parts or task orders rather than issue a winner-takes-all solicitation. He also said the lack of clear guidance has clouded agencies’ vision for using EIS in other ways.
For instance, agencies may not be aware that all EIS vendors can bid on solicitations even if they don’t yet have an authority to operate. However, a company can’t actually provide services without an ATO.
Currently, only the three largest EIS vendors — AT&T, CenturyLink and Verizon — have ATOs. GSA’s latest report shows that the rest of the vendors are on track to receive ATOs by November.
Woods said ATOs are the key to agencies opening up com- petition to smaller carriers that might bid on parts of larger agencies’ contracts. “The lack of ATO takes people out of the game for large contracts,” he said, which can push agencies toward their incumbent carriers. “Lack of ATO isn’t a game stopper, but it isn’t helpful.”
HHS: Embracing innovation under EIS
One of the largest and possibly most complex agency solici- tations was released in July, backed by a CIO enthusiastic about the EIS contract’s modernization goals and possibilities.
The Department of Health and Human Services has been a leader in harnessing new technologies, such as blockchain and machine learning, in support of its mission, and CIO Jose Arrieta said that embrace of innovation extends to EIS.
HHS leaders, including Assistant Secretary for Admin- istration Scott Rowell and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition James Simpson, brought all the agency’s divi- sions together to develop a single solicitation for the con- tract, Arrieta said.
“We consider ourselves one of the largest and most com- plex agencies in the federal government,” he added. “Some- how, we got one fair opportunity \[solicitation\] that is a rep- resentation of all of HHS to the street. We think we will be able to make an award and implement EIS as a single entity. We think there’s considerable savings, better service and increased security in the long term of the contract in taking this approach.”
In addition, he said HHS “is pushing hard” to meet GSA’s Sept. 30 deadline.
Woods said GSA might consider forming “tiger teams” to help individual agencies with EIS preparations. If the Sep- tember deadline passes with only a handful of solicitations that don’t offer much in the way of modernizations, vendors could get Congress involved to review the contract’s prog- ress, he added.
Zielinski told FCW that the like-for-like approach to EIS isn’t adequate for modernization. “GSA and agencies have a shared responsibility to complete the EIS transition,” he said. “Ultimately, the final steps of the transition are con- tingent upon agency budgets and oversight” from project managers and CIOs. n