In today’s digital age, technology plays an essential role in every aspect of our lives, including government operations. But agencies don’t always have the resources or expertise in-house to take advantage of the benefits technology can bring. To help agencies that may be stretching resources and budgets in addition to the workload of their acquisition workforce, GSA provides a wide range of IT services through the IT Professional Services Special Item Number (SIN) on the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS-IT). This SIN enables federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to access a broad range of IT solutions from experienced contractors at competitive rates.
This blog post is part of a series where we’re discussing each of GSA’s key IT Services SINs. Each blog will discuss the benefits for agencies in using the solution, take a look at who is using it, and share an example of how an agency successfully used the SIN to achieve its mission.
A few key benefits to using GSA’s IT Professional Services SIN are listed below:
- Experienced industry partners: Access a pool of experienced IT professionals who have worked on government projects. These contractors have the knowledge and expertise required to design and implement complex IT solutions that meet the specific needs of your agency.
- Faster procurements: Quickly and easily access IT solutions through the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS). This saves time and resources and enables you to focus on your core mission.
- Cost savings: Leverage competitive rates, lower administrative burden, and reduced use of agency resources. Buying IT solutions through SIN is faster and easier, driving costs down when compared to the costs of the open market.
Top agencies
Agencies invested almost $10 billion through the IT Professional Services SIN last year. Here are some of our biggest users:
- US Customs and Border Protection
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- General Services Administration
- Department of Defense (Various Offices)
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of the Navy
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of the Air Force
- Department of the Interior
Use Case: Small businesses provide low-cost, secure application for agency’s foreign aid program
A federal agency administering aid to foreign countries needed to create an application that could run efficiently and effectively on low-cost tablets. This application also needed to operate in areas where only low-speed internet access was available.
In addition, the application had to be secure and protect personally identifiable information and health data.
The agency released a request for information (RFI) under the IT Professional Services SIN using GSA eBuy. The RFI allowed the agency to survey existing capabilities among the vendors on the SIN to determine what requirements to include in a request for proposal (RFP). The agency used the RFI market research to draft and issue a performance work statement (or PWS) under the IT Professional Services SIN for the Field Employee Support Tablet Initiative project. They received six proposals.
Ultimately, a group of three small businesses using a contractor teaming arrangement (or CTA) received the contract award.
GSA’s IT Professional Services SIN, serving you
GSA’s IT Professional Services SIN provides agencies — at all levels — with access to experienced IT professionals, a faster procurement process, and cost savings. By leveraging the expertise of contractors through the IT Professional Services SIN, agencies can implement IT solutions that meet their specific needs, improve efficiency, and better fulfill their missions.
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