GSA raises STARS II roof by $7B as contract enters 4th generation
The General Services Administration expanded federal agencies’ ability to buy IT by raising the ceiling of its STARS II small business set-aside governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC) by $7 billion Wednesday.
The 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) II contract lets agencies buy from 787 small businesses, and more than 50 agencies have since 2011.
Upping the STARS II contract to $22 billion will also help small businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic-caused recession.
“By raising the 8(a) STARS II ceiling, GSA continues to ensure that we meet the needs of our federal agency customers,” said GSA Administrator Emily Murphy in an announcement. “As agency demand for IT products and services has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, GSA is proud that STARS II will remain available to help agencies deliver world class IT services.”
Every small business on the STARS II contract will remain, and new task orders may be placed through Aug. 30, 2021 — with work continuing through June 30, 2022.
This isn’t the first time GSA has raised the STARS II ceiling, and the third generation of the contract “exceeded all of our expectations,” Laura Stanton, acting assistant commissioner of IT Category at GSA, said in a statement.
“As we move into this contract’s fourth generation we can say for certain that this program is a huge success,” Stanton said. “A significant number of prior 8(a) STARS program participants have grown their businesses so much that we now see them thriving with the big companies on GSA’s Alliant 2 GWAC.”
