Credit where credit is due

This column was originally published on Roger Waldron’s blog at The Coalition for Government Procurement and was republished here with permission from the author.

This week, the General Services Administration posted on the Interact site some welcome news regarding the upcoming Services Multi-Agency Contract (MAC), which is the follow-on to the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) program. GSA announced that, after considering discussions with various stakeholders and conducting additional market research, it had finalized a small business acquisition strategy for the program. The announced strategy responds positively to the feedback provided by the Coalition for Government Procurement and its members over the past year. 

Services MAC will employ the OASIS model, providing one set indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts open to other than small businesses and a second, separate set of contracts set aside for small businesses. Specifically, the announcement states that, in addition to solicitating proposals from other than small businesses, GSA’s Office of Professional Services and Human Capital (PSHC) will solicit and award separate IDIQ contracts under the following categories:

• Total Small Business 
• 8(a) Small Business 
• HUBZone Small Business 
• Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business 
• Woman-Owned Small Business 
• Unrestricted

PSHC stated that, to reduce industry and customer agency burden, it will seek to provide offerors that propose on more than one solicitation the ability to leverage one proposal as much as possible. This announcement aligns with the messaging from Sheri Meadema, GSA’s director of Program Operations for Professional Services and Human Capital Categories, and her team during a meeting with Coalition members this past Tuesday.   

GSA’s decision provides a sound, best value procurement foundation for Services MAC. GSA’s approach will streamline acquisition planning and reduce complexity at the task order level for customer agencies and small business contractors. It leverages the current regulatory framework for a small business set aside multiple award IDIQ contract. The result will further promote opportunities for small business of all types, including small, disadvantaged businesses. It is the first step in ensuring Services MAC is a best-in-class contract for customer agencies, GSA and industry partners.   

In the wake of GSA’s announcement effectively embracing this approach, the Coalition and its members are gratified, not only in the result, but also in the level of engagement leading to that result. The GSA administrator’s PSHC took the time to proactively engage with stakeholders across the procurement community, and it continues to take the time, to engage with all stakeholders in the program, to solicit input, and to review and consider that input. By so doing, GSA gives agencies a powerful example of “how it’s done,” i.e. how to assess the market, engage with users and other stakeholders, and exercise the flexibility to develop an acquisition approach based on a history of success in servicing customer agency needs. 

Members and readers of this blog will remember that the Coalition has been actively engaged on the follow-on to OASIS. Indeed, we filed multiple consensus member comments and blogs articulating, among other things, support for the OASIS approach that created two separate contract vehicles, OASIS SB and OASIS Unrestricted. The Coalition remains engaged for the benefit of all stakeholders and to promote what is our core mission: Common sense in government procurement. 

A copy of the GSA Interact notice on the Services MAC can be found here.

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