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that, except for the NASA SEWP and [GSA’s] 8(a) STARS III contracts, the government contracting personnel at the IDIQ level do not generally know a lot about IT,” Cureton said. “Sometimes that’s a hindrance but not necessarily a roadblock. This deficiency is overcome with contracting professionals who are more IT savvy, with a commitment to stay that way with depth better than the buzzword level of knowledge.”
She added that she believes “GWACs are making tremendous progress in that space.”
A level playing field for small businesses?
Each iteration of a GWAC comes with signifi- cant growth. SEWP IV brought in more than $16 billion over its lifespan, but SEWP V has already hit $31.7 billion. The National Institutes of Health’s CIO-SP2i brought in $4.1 billion, while the currently active CIO-SP3 has already seen $18.6 billion in awards.
However, the expanding popularity of GWACs has some experts concerned that there could be an exclusionary ripple effect across the public marketplace. They say that although GWACs have the ability to bring a diverse coalition of new entrants into the fed- eral marketplace, there are challenges.
“While GWACs are difficult for startups to
navigate, the model does help lead to federal
work, can serve as a stamp of approval and
opens door to make the procurement process
more efficient in the long term,” said Alec Lon-
garzo, director of federal business develop-
ment at technology services firm Dcode. “GWACs require a large resource investment and, in many instances, help from external consultants and partners. Small businesses can’t always throw large teams at these vehicles and impact other aspects of their business as a result.”
Similarly, Endicott said that “some small businesses have expressed concern about the increased utilization of GWACs. Smaller contractors may not have the time, resources or experience to go after these larger GWACs, and these companies worry they may be excluded from a sizable amount of work if those requirements are competed through vehicles.”
Vendor protests against contract awards have played a critical role in shaping GWACs since 1994, when Congress allowed government con- tractors a limited ability to file protests with the Government Accountability Office. Categories for protests have expanded over the years to encom- pass a wide range of potential issues, including objections to an order that exceeds the scope or value of the contract. Companies can only file protests against task orders greater than $10 million at civilian agencies and $25 million at the Defense Department.
The number of protests filed in response to new task orders has risen over the years. Those protests serve to ensure that agencies are fol- lowing procurement rules, but a multitude of protests against specific contract vehicles have the potential to derail procurement goals and deadlines for agencies working to achieve criti- cal IT milestones.
CIO-SP4, NIH’s $50 billion health IT vehicle, has faced nearly two dozen complaints since the request for proposals was released in May. Reports indicate that the protests focus on a self- evaluation system used to identify eligible con-
tractors. NIH officials declined to comment on CIO-SP4 for this article because it is an active procurement.
Under the self-scoring evaluation system, contractors can be assessed for eligibility for certain contracts based on the information they provide about their products and
“Agencies no longer have to start at square one. Most of the work has been done. All they need to do is describe what they want, how much they’re willing to pay, then run a fair competition as a task order against that contract.”
ALAN CHVOTKIN, NICHOLS LIU
SEWP IV brought in more than $16 billion over its lifespan, but SEWP V has already hit $31.7 billion.
The National Institutes of Health’s CIO- SP2i brought in $4.1 billion, while the currently active CIO-SP3 has already seen $18.6 billion in awards.
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