Acquisition

GSA to launch new cloud contract by close of fiscal year 2016

Based on vendor and Defense Department support, the General Services Administration plans to launch a new cloud computing contract to replace an expired infrastructure-as-a-service vehicle by the end of the fiscal year.

By Billy Mitchell

January 25, 2016

The General Services Administration plans to launch a new cloud computing contract to replace an expired infrastructure-as-a-service vehicle by the end of the fiscal year, following responses from vendors and support of the Defense Department.

GSA is looking to establish an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, or IDIQ, cloud computing contract, which would serve as a “one-stop shop and an improved way to buy cloud,” Mary Davie, assistant commissioner or GSA’s Office of Integrated Technology Services, wrote in a blog post Friday. This contract would replace GSA’s IaaS blanket purchase agreement, under which GSA stopped awarding new task orders last October.

“This contract will serve as a single procurement source for all things cloud, with flexibility so as to incorporate valuable cloud services and technologies that emerge over its lifecycle,” she wrote.

Davie said 72 percent of respondents to the cloud IDIQ RFI, issued in February 2015, were in favor of the new contract as a replacement for the expired BPA, first awarded in 2010. Task orders for the IaaS BPA were awarded up to the Oct. 14, 2015, expiration with periods of performance up to five years.

GSA has also partnered with the Defense Information Systems Agency through a memorandum of agreement to make sure the eventual vehicle will fit the needs of the Defense Department.

“Through the continuing DISA/GSA partnership we have identified and addressed over 200 DoD requirements and desirable cloud contract vehicle characteristics,” Davie said. “Our careful adjudication of these requirements ensures that we’re creating a stronger, best-in-business contract.”

Based on this support, GSA plans to issue a request for proposals — one informed by industry and DOD feedback — by the end of fiscal year 2016.

“GSA is committed to using the insights learned from both vendor responses to the RFI and from its strong partnerships,” Davie wrote. “Understanding customer needs and service provider insights building the contract ensures GSA is facilitating the federal government’s most critical achievements in the rapidly developing landscape of cloud computing.”