GSA creates $2.1B contract for NOAA’s IT
The General Services Administration has created a $2.1 billion contract that will allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to buy IT tools and services from small businesses faster.
Launched as a 10-year, multiple-award blanket purchase agreement off of GSA‘s Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), the NOAA Mission IT Services (NMITS) contract covers application administration, enterprise and cloud computing, cybersecurity and information assurance.
The contract is part of a broader effort by GSA to standardize requirements, thereby streamlining governmentwide acquisition, through its MAS program.
“NOAA’s missions are vitally dependent on IT services,” Zachary Goldstein, chief information officer at NOAA, said in an announcement Wednesday. “With the award of NMITS, NOAA can more rapidly access highly qualified private sector talent, a key to cost-effectively operating and modernizing our information management environment, and advance our service to the American people.”
NMITS consists of five base years and a five-year option period and will be administered by NOAA’s Office of the CIO and other NOAA offices.
GSA’s MAS covers more than 7.5 million IT products and services from more than 4,600 pre-vetted suppliers and is available to federal, state, local and tribal agencies. By streamlining IT acquisition under a single category on the contract, it has reduced buying cycles by up to 50%, GSA says.
“These types of solutions make it easier and allow our partners to focus on their mission instead of acquisition while helping speed up their procurements,” said Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner of IT Category at GSA. “We pride ourselves on close agency partnerships like this, and we are thrilled to support NOAA with its complex IT needs.”
