Category: IT Software

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Acquisition Gateway – Act as One for Smarter Acquisition

This blog post is Part II of a seven-part series reviewing the Acquisition Gateway and IT Category data, trends, expertise, and advocacy that GSA’s ITC organization offers to support other agencies’ missions.
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2016 was a landmark year for the Acquisition Gateway. To start, we reached 10,000 users, and counting! Even more important, acquisition professionals across the federal government contributed to the Gateway’s success. From sharing sample templates to participating in usability testing and design workshops, agency experts brought insight from every corner of the acquisition lifecycle. Together, we built an online workspace packed with category-specific tools, expertise, data, and content.

We’re excited to celebrate this achievement as one acquisition community, and I want to personally thank those of you who either contributed to the IT Hallway or logged in to explore. As I wrote in a previous post, the Acquisition Gateway supports category management by expanding the use of high-quality, high-value strategic sourcing solutions to improve the government’s buying power and reduce contract duplication.

Acquisition professionals visit the Gateway to:

  • Find advice, market intelligence, and acquisition sources in the IT Hallways,
  • Gather and download samples and templates in the document library,
  • Search and compare government-wide contracts in the solutions finder, and
  • Access various tools and price indexes in eBuy Open and the Prices Paid Portal.

Whatever your need, the Acquisition Gateway has all the helpful information and search tools to help you navigate the process and the universe of purchasing options.

IT Hallways

Two years ago when the Acquisition Gateway launched, IT Hardware and IT Software were two of the three category hallways that went live. Today, you can find 19 hallways aligned with the 10 common federal government nondefense spend categories.

The IT category now houses six hallways:

  • IT Hardware
  • IT Software
  • IT Security
  • IT Outsourcing
  • IT Consulting and
  • Telecommunications

The IT Hallway welcomed over 3,000 visits last year. Each visit provided an opportunity for an acquisition professional to experience a neutral, unbiased repository and community of practice. We packed content and expert advice into more than 150 articles in collaboration with acquisition experts across government. There were more than 2,800 views of IT-specific articles, covering topics from Governmentwide Strategic Solutions (GSS) for Desktops and Laptops Initiative to Negotiating Cloud-Based Contracts.

Document Library

The Gateway continues to evolve thanks to acquisition expert feedback and contributions. For example, what started out as a Statement of Work (SOW) library has now expanded to an ever-growing document library with 50 new document types to choose from across all phases of the acquisition process. Since its expansion this past summer, the document library has been viewed more than 3,500 times. Today, you can find 100 IT category-specific documents alone and can contribute new documents of your own directly into the library with a few simple clicks.

Solutions Finder

The solutions finder, which began as a spreadsheet covering a handful of governmentwide contracts, is now a robust search tool. It allows you to find and compare 100 IT solutions out of more than 200 governmentwide contracts, purchase agreements, and shared services. For example, a quick search for “IT Software” with the selected agency as “Navy” provides 25 governmentwide contracts to choose from. Users can filter and compare multiple contracts to include the description, solution type, fee information, expiration date, points of contact, available offerings, and prices paid information, just to name a few.

Monique Davis, a Human Resources Specialist with the Office of Personnel Management, visits the Acquisition Gateway daily. “I am currently working to place human capital project management support; I use the Gateway to research potential solutions,” she said. Davis has more than 15 years of acquisition experience and finds that the solutions finder is the feature she uses most to support her day-to-day activity. “The acquisition gateway allows me to research and compare different contracts / solutions, decreasing the amount of time I spend on market research for a particular requirement.”

eBuy Open and Prices Paid Portal

While the Acquisition Gateway has added more IT category hallways and more information articles in the document library, and has given users a more robust search tool, the Gateway also empowers agencies by giving them access to acquisition information, data, methodologies, and tools so they can make good decisions.

“Being able to access eBuy Open through the Acquisition Gateway is invaluable to me and my program. It allows me to research and analyze open, closed, and cancelled Requests for Quotes (RFQs) submitted through GSA’s eBuy system. From a review standpoint, it’s a great way to support my staff and apply checks and balances,” said Jeffrey Hale, a small business officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Acquisition and Grants Office. (Hale gathers information and resources to advise management on small business procurement policies and regulations).

Since March 2016, users visited the Prices Paid Portal more than 9,000 times. It enables agencies to use taxpayer dollars more efficiently because they show contract intelligence and spending data so agencies can make informed purchases.

Lynda Potters, a program manager for the U.S. Navy, and her team, negotiates agreements for Enterprise Software Licensing (ESL) and Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI). The Gateway allows them to identify potential cost savings and help ensure the federal government uses its purchasing power to get the best prices possible.

“With the Prices Paid Portal, we can access different views than our web sites,” Potter said. “Without it, we can only access [U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force] data. It allows us to see agency data across the federal government, which gives us a much broader picture when gathering market research or assisting customers.”

When a customer wants a particular product that isn’t Navy-specific, the Gateway allows Potters’ team to gather the information they need to find a product they can use.

“We visit the Gateway to see what types of agreements exist, where spend exists,” Potters said, and added “We have access to pricing data, but find the way the data is analyzed and displayed on the Gateway very helpful. The display features and filters make it easy to use when conducting market research.”

Next Steps

Success requires constant collaboration and a continuous process of incorporating user feedback, including customer-contributed expertise and content. Our approach means we can keep improving the site without taking it down for repairs. Among some of the anticipated changes in the next release, users can expect:

  • Expanded development options to integrate new apps
  • New tutorials for the Gateway and its tools
  • Robust document library content and expanded filtering capabilities
  • Enhanced milestone management within the project center and
  • Improved search capability in the hallways.

Learn and Earn CLPs with Acquisition Gateway U

Beginning January 23, we are hosting Acquisition Gateway U, a two-week series of webinars designed to help you get the most from Acquisition Gateway. Offered through GSA and the Federal Acquisition Institute, Gateway U is open exclusively to federal agency personnel. Also, webinar attendees can earn one Continuous Learning Point (CLP) for each session fully attended.

Review the sessions being offered, and register today!

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

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Hello ITC, Goodbye ITS!

By Mary Davie, Assistant Commissioner, Office of Information Technology Category

This blog post is part of a seven-part series reviewing the Acquisition Gateway and IT Category data, trends, expertise, and advocacy that GSA’s ITC organization offers to support other agencies’ missions.

“I thought GSA’s team was ITS. Is ITC a typo?”

No … it’s not a typo. Within GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, we are now officially the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC). This isn’t just a name change from the Integrated Technology Service. We also realigned internally to better serve our customers and to align with agencies and industry partners so we deliver flexible solutions, support agency missions, and drive innovative and agile improvements through IT Category Management (CM).

Yet with any new change, there are bound to be questions. The questions I’ve heard range from simple ones like “What does the acronym ITC mean?” to “Where does ITC fit into the big picture of Category Management?”

Agency Advocacy is Priority One

We changed from ITS to ITC to better support and serve other agencies.

Our top priority is to be a mission enabler for agencies by:

  • Helping agencies find the best solutions using our technological and acquisition expertise regardless of where they reside, rather than advocating for any specific GSA contract solution. (Yes, you read this correctly. Our ITC experts will recommend a non-GSA contract if it’s the best-fit solution for an agency);
  • Working with agencies to define better requirements, reduce procurement action lead time, boost innovation, and improve data transparency;
  • Using more qualitative and quantitative data analytics, including market research, to help you make better informed decisions;
  • Supporting CM and foster best practices and shared solutions. (We can deliver better services to fellow agencies and taxpayers by making it easier to do business with our suppliers, thereby enhancing agency missions and reducing total cost of IT ownership to agencies); and
  • Continuing to work with agencies and suppliers to make emerging technology available government-wide.

New Name, New Capabilities, Maximum Impact

As mentioned earlier, we’ve realigned the organization so we can provide:

  • Acquisition subject-matter experts,
  • Category experts, and
  • Solutions support experts.

And we’ve also added new divisions within ITC to give agencies and suppliers more focused support:

  • Customer (i.e., Agency) Engagement Division,
  • Supplier Management and Compliance Division,
  • Innovation Division, and
  • Acquisition and Category Management Support Divisions.

These organizations will coordinate activities and functions, improve collaboration and innovation, and help us gain operational efficiencies. As the Assistant Commissioner for ITC, I’ve already seen positive outcomes from our technology and acquisition subject-matter experts working together to generate great value for the government and taxpayers:

  • Our Commercial Satellite Communications program is in partnership with the Department of Defense to help civilian and defense agencies support our nation’s military men and women in uniform, as well as humanitarian relief, disaster-response, counter-terrorism efforts, and more.
  • We developed Health IT expertise to better partner with the Defense Health Agency, so they could have access to innovative and emerging health IT services (The SIN was recently awarded to 65 highly qualified industry partners).
  • Our software expertise has produced better agreements with vendors to provide geospatial services, Salesforce-related services, and security and electronic signature solutions…all while saving time and money.

ITC Role in Government-Wide Category Management

I’ve also been asked where ITC fits into the big picture of CM and if ITC is the same thing as the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) government-wide Category Management initiative.

In early 2015, OMB announced the government-wide CM initiative with goals to increase savings, reduce the number of new contracts, and increase spending under government-wide management. Soon after this announcement, OMB created the Category Management Leadership Council, which approved dividing the federal marketplace into 10 super categories (PDF).

Our realignment into ITC directly supports the IT category, which gives us purview over the IT marketplace. As well as being the ITC Assistant Commissioner, I also serve as the government-wide Category Manager for IT. My position, coupled with ITC’s great team, enables us to drive change in IT procurement across the government.

A Closer Look at IT Subcategories

With ITC’s expanded focus, 2017 is the perfect time to update you on what’s going on with the Acquisition Gateway and the IT Category. Our next blog post will focus on the Acquisition Gateway updates. Then, in the coming weeks, we’ll post more blogs in this space to look back at IT category insights over the past year and what’s ahead for each of the following IT subcategories:

  • IT Hardware,
  • IT Security,
  • IT Services,
  • IT Software, and
  • Telecommunications (Telecom).

Together these subcategories and their IT solutions emphasize what we can do as a nation to deliver many critical services to the American people. These include using satellite systems to enhance weather alerts…strengthening counter-terrorism and global security efforts…and leveraging geospatial software for USDA to increase crop yields and helping CDC to track down Zika outbreaks.

Select Get email updates when this page changes and choose “Great Government Through Technology” to sign up to receive email alerts when we publish new blog posts.

Please follow ITC on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT. Visit the IT Hallways on the Acquisition Gateway for more information on the IT category and subcategories.

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ITC Continues to Lead Innovation – Geospatial Software Contracts Reach New Heights

Geospatial Software Success with Esri

As I’ve mentioned on several occasions ‒ as part of GSA’s role in implementing the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) ‒ we’re incorporating cutting-edge, new, and innovative IT ideas and solutions into our programs, contracts and processes. We’re also expanding our work in information technology (IT) Category Management.

Last year the Enterprise Software Category Team worked with Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) to modify Esri’s GSA Schedule 70 terms and conditions for geospatial software Enterprise License Agreements (ELAs), resulting in improved efficiency, pricing, terms and conditions, and transparency

Modifying Esri’s IT Schedule 70 contract for single license agreements to a “FITARA ELA” was smart and prudent. In fact, the solution started recognizing savings immediately. Esri captures $74 million of the government-wide $294 million annual spend on geospatial software licenses.

Beyond the benefits to agencies utilizing ELAs, federal agencies currently use the standard license agreement (SLAs) receive a 10% discount; approximately $2 million in savings during fiscal 2016. They can see even greater savings by converting to the FITARA ELA.

Saving More with the GSA FITARA ELA

FITARA, passed by Congress in December 2014 and implemented at the beginning of 2015, helps government agencies optimize the cost of IT ownership through better management. Our FITARA solution provides government-wide savings based on the aggregate purchase for all federal agencies. This solution also affords large-volume discounts for agencies, regardless of the number of licenses. For instance, a small department needing only a few licenses can take advantage of the same discounts as a larger organization requiring more software.

By cost savings alone, the new government-wide FITARA ELA will potentially save American taxpayers millions of dollars. Moreover, the FITARA ELA not only saves millions of dollars, but it also:

  • Improves efficiencies by eliminating the need for separate negotiations;
  • Reduces administrative costs by implementing a single set of terms & conditions across government;
  • Offers tiered discounts by leveraging the buying power of the federal government;
  • Benefits from increased price transparency; and
  • Provides government agencies access to the agreement, as well as software management best practices in the software hallway on the Acquisition Gateway.

Non-ELA agencies that move to an Esri FITARA ELA save, on average, 50% by signing a FITARA ELA with Esri.

Existing ELA agencies can switch to an Esri FITARA ELA by processing just an administrative modification ‒ one more paragraph added to your existing ELA contract. There is no need to recompete; the turnaround process averages about 24 hours. These agencies will receive at least an additional 3% in savings on ELA payments starting January 2017, due to more than $30 million spent through current licensing agreements sales and based on tiered discounts (3% savings for $30 million threshold).

Agencies already completing the switch to Esri FITARA ELAs include:

  • Department of Agriculture
  • Department of the Air Force (Civil Engineer)
  • Department of Homeland Security
  • Department of Interior
  • Department of Transportation (Federal Aviation Administration)
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • U.S. National Guard (Army/Air Guard)
  • Army Corps of Engineers
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Based upon how agencies buy between single and enterprise license agreements by the end of the fiscal year, we’re expecting a 5-6% overall savings when agencies fully roll onto the Esri IT Schedule 70 contract.

Benefits to the Government

We continue to look for opportunities to partner with our suppliers on targeted agreements and bring more savings to government agencies. What is more, the government benefits through reduced duplicative contracts, allowing our industry partners to bring innovation to the federal marketplace faster and change the government discussion from procuring technology to transforming enterprises.

We appreciate Esri being the first to offer a government-wide ELA, giving government agencies the opportunity to benefit from this partnership. Through the FITARA ELA, federal agencies:

  • Save on future products. New products that are released will automatically be available at no additional charge.
  • Tap into different training venues at no additional cost.
  • Stay up-to-speed on current technology and get exposure to best-in-class solutions.
  • In the event of a disaster, receive disaster support around the clock.

Stay tuned as we will be announcing another FITARA based ELA very soon!

For more information visit us on the Acquisition Gateway.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITC and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

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Government-wide Desktops and Laptops, Smarter Buying

Note: This is a guest blog post by Kay Ely, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Integrated Technology Services.

ITS prides itself on providing federal agencies with IT solutions at the best value through the smoothest possible buying process. The recent addition of a new approach to buying hardware, the Governmentwide Strategic Solutions (GSS) for laptops and desktops, is a prime example of how several agencies worked together with our partners across government and industry to improve the buying process and at the same time get better prices for federal, state and local governments.

As govvies, we depend on laptops and desktops every day to get our work done and the amount we spend on computers proves it. Every year the federal government spends more than $1 billion to ensure that we have the critical equipment to do our jobs. 80 percent of that is spent on the same equipment from the same companies across thousands of contracts, with little visibility from one agency to the next as to what price is being paid. We knew there had to be a better way.

By working closely with agencies and industry partners an innovative approach was developed for acquiring the best equipment at the best price. To put it simply, standardizing requirements, and buying collectively – this is the “Governmentwide Approach”.

How’d we accomplished this?

Using a category management approach, IT Schedule 70 conducted a reverse auction to support the Office of Management and Budget’s recent GSS Laptop/Desktop buying events.

Thirty-six agency representatives attended these buying events to learn more about their computer purchasing options and five agencies have already collectively estimated intent to buy 56,000 laptops and desktops – this “acting as one” approach drove prices down by an average of 16 percent. And that is one good example! The GSS team plans to conduct buying events on a bi-annual basis moving forward.

To participate, suppliers submitted their initial quotes for six optimized configurations (three laptop and three desktop) to GSA via eBuy. Those who were rated technically acceptable were invited to participate in the pricing phase through the GSA Reverse Auction platform. Impress Technologies Solutions Inc. (Dell), ABM Federal Sales (Hewlett-Packard), and NCS Technologies Inc. (Lenovo) were awarded those contracts.

To make it easy for more agencies to benefit from this, we have been hosting Government-wide Strategic Solutions for Desktops and Laptops Buying Event Office Hours – informational sessions with agencies to explain the category management principles applied, the configurations and how to easily place orders.

Better Buying for the Future

Using this program, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has already placed an order for $230,845 which included 100 laptops and 125 desktops. This new pricing enabled the Museum to maximize their budget and get an additional 55 computers that they otherwise couldn’t have. Overall, this came to a savings, against the old pricing, of nearly $75K.

This is the first time that the government has bought laptops and desktops in this way. It’s a great example of category management at work — government and industry worked together, saving U.S. taxpayers an initial $8 million governmentwide, with additional savings to come as more agencies leverage these contracts.

By using this program, your agency could save up to 27 percent off the GSA standard pricing. Of course, the actual savings are going to vary from item to item, but overall this is very good for government. We’re encouraged by the initial success of this program. As we near the end of the fiscal year, government agencies can benefit greatly from the lower pricing to get the best value possible for their dollars spent.

To learn more about the configurations, contracts and to make your purchase, see GSA Advantage or the Acquisition Gateway.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITS and LinkedIn to join our ongoing conversations about government IT.

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Government IT Buying New Year’s Resolutions

(This blog post is part of a multi-week series reviewing data and trends from GSA’s IT acquisition vehicles for FY15. Read previous posts at http://gsablogs.gsa.gov/technology/)

Time to make our New Year’s resolutions for 2016!

In my last 13 blog posts, we looked at government IT trends for FY15 and what might be ahead in FY16 technology acquisitions for telecommunications, cloud, cybersecurity, mobility/wireless, hardware, software, and small business. We’ve got a good sense of the technology trends.

But how we go about buying the technology is equally important. I recommend these New Year’s resolutions:

  • Use existing government-wide contracts, like those from GSA and other agencies, instead of new and open market contracts.
  • Each time you need IT or telecommunications products, services, or solutions, check out the latest GSA offerings, which we continuously enhance.
  • Use the Acquisition Gateway for market research, to link to existing contracts that offer the IT solution you’re looking for, and to stay informed on best practices.
  • Collaborate across agencies every step of the way.

We can save lots of taxpayer dollars and achieve better acquisition and operational efficiencies with this resolution.

For more information about who we are and what we do, check out the slide presentation posted below.

And be sure to follow and engage us on Twitter @GSA_ITS and on the ITS LinkedIn page we launched last year.

This presentation covers ways to improve the acquisition process for customer agencies, by leveraging existing contracts, using category management and the acquisition gateway, and reducing IT acquisition duplication and costs.
Government IT Buying New Years Resolutions: To Improve What and How You Buy (PDF, 125 KB)

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The Cloud IDIQ: Gathering Insights from Both Sides of the Contract

(This blog post is part of a multi-week series reviewing data and trends from GSA’s IT acquisition vehicles for FY15. Read previous posts at http://gsablogs.gsa.gov/technology/)

As the federal government moves toward cloud computing in order  to increase mission agility and cost effectiveness, GSA is establishing a comprehensive IDIQ cloud computing contract that will serve as a one-stop shop and an improved way to buy cloud. 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.

Through interactions with federal stakeholders, we have identified common barriers that government agencies face during implementation of their cloud computing projects. This insight supports the foundation of the approach GSA is taking in this endeavor.

The Value of Strong Partnership

To further this customer engagement, GSA is partnered closely with DoD’s Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) through a Memorandum of Agreement, addressing in part how this comprehensive cloud computing contract can:

  • Support various levels of DoD’s rigorous security requirements and accommodate other buyers with similar security needs;
  • Best suit the government’s need to effectively budget while still leveraging the flexibility of the cloud; and
  • Establish a cloud computing contract that is as attractive as possible for DoD and other federal consumers.

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

Collecting Input from the Other Side

Customer insights, such as those from DISA, have helped GSA to serve its partners better but they don’t tell the whole story. GSA needed input from stakeholders on the other side – the vendor side – of the contract to get the full picture, so we sought feedback from cloud computing vendors who provide the services this contract needs.

The CCS PMO released a Request for Information (RFI) on February 11, 2015 to solicit insights from both government and industry. The RFI was part of a larger market research effort to determine the current state of cloud contract capabilities across the federal government.

We asked members, particularly of the vendor community, a variety of questions ranging from the challenges that they face in selling cloud services to the government to the types of cloud products and services that need to be offered in the future. Respondents were also asked if their companies see value to the government if GSA creates a new cloud contract to replace the expiring IaaS BPA.

Some specific questions were:

  • Given that cloud products and services are rapidly changing, what process or structure would your company propose for the acquisition contract to keep current with industry?
  • How would you suggest that awarded solutions be “updated” based on a technology change and pricing?
  • What would you propose as the easiest and most cost-effective way for government to offer cloud solutions to federal agencies?
  • Can GSA modify or change how it buys and sells cloud services to be more consistent with how solutions are structured and sold commercially within the limitations of the FAR?

Incorporating Feedback

There were a total of 72 respondents to the RFI, most of which were vendors. A few major response themes included:

  • Common barriers to cloud sales are security requirements, inflexible pricing structures and long procurement delays;
  • The need for professional services to be included in the same vehicle as the cloud offering;
  • A desire for on-demand, subscription or “Single CLIN” purchasing programs; and
  • The need for flexibility to make changes and modifications to the offerings as cloud technologies evolve.

A strong 72% of respondents were in favor of GSA creating a new cloud IDIQ contract to replace the expiring IaaS contract.

Moving Forward

In support of its mission and priorities and to build a better contract vehicle, GSA is committed to using the insights learned from both vendor responses to the RFI and from its strong partnerships. Understanding customer needs and service provider insights before building the contract ensures GSA is facilitating the federal government’s most critical achievements in the rapidly developing landscape of cloud computing. Stakeholders will see the fruits of these labors when the cloud computing IDIQ draft RFP is released by FY16’s end, at which time we’ll look forward to your contributions by way of feedback and input.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITS to join the conversation.

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The Cloud SIN: Making Sense of Cloud Options

(This blog post is part of a multi-week series reviewing data and trends from GSA’s IT acquisition vehicles for FY15. Read previous posts at http://gsablogs.gsa.gov/technology/)

Success in our Cloud PMO

Our Cloud Computing Services Program Management Office (CCS PMO) was hard at work in FY15 working on a number of projects. They are fully staffed with both cloud technologists and cloud acquisition specialists. The team helps federal, state, local and tribal governments with their cloud adoption and acquisition strategies with the goal of speeding government movement to the cloud. The PMO manages the following GSA cloud acquisition tools:

  • IT Schedule 70 Cloud Special Item Number (SIN) 132-40
  • Cloud Email as a Service (EaaS) BPA
  • New Cloud IDIQ in process
  • Groundbreaking Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) BPA, now expired and to be replaced by the new IDIQ.

In FY15 the PMO completed over 150 separate agency engagements ranging in length from one day to six months, all focusing on helping agencies with their cloud strategies. And we are proud to say that since inception, the Cloud PMO has managed over $450M in dozens of cloud acquisition awards either directly through its own cloud acquisition tools, or by helping agencies direct their cloud orders to GSA IT Schedule 70 alone.

As I reported in a blog post this spring, GSA successfully implemented the Cloud Special Item Number (Cloud SIN 132-40) on IT Schedule 70 for all cloud offerings in April 2015. The Cloud SIN allows customer agencies to view all cloud-specific offerings in three sub-categories defined by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service.

Cloud SIN: What it’s all about

The goal of the Cloud SIN is to provide customers centralized, streamlined access to cloud computing services through IT Schedule 70 to meet their eligible government, state, and local needs. GSA customers can clearly distinguish cloud services from non-cloud IT products and services in order to get to the right solution quickly. In addition, the Cloud SIN provides industry partners with enhanced abilities to market distinctive cloud computing solutions and offerings on IT Schedule 70.

FY15 Awareness, Adoption and Industry Partner Excitement

Our Industry Partners have expressed significant interest in getting on the Cloud SIN. In preparation for increasing the number of vendors in the next fiscal year, GSA held an Industry Day for vendors, published more than 25 news articles and posted more than 30 notices through GSA social media outlets (e.g. GSA ITS Twitter account). GSA also held several webinars and training sessions for more than 100 Contracting Officers who will approve submissions for vendors to get on the Cloud SIN. And, I’m pleased to say that these Cloud SIN efforts are beginning to bear fruit.

DHS Vote of Confidence

In November, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Enterprise Computing Services (ECS) issued an RFI for a future acquisition that seeks to leverage vendors under the Cloud SIN to provide DHS components with the ability to efficiently procure secure cloud computing services on an ongoing basis. This type of procurement looks to be the first of its kind for the Cloud SIN, and GSA looks forward to working closely with vendors and customers in the coming year to ensure that it’s not the last.

For more resources on the Cloud SIN, including guidance for transitioning your company’s services onto the SIN or how to use the SIN to build a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), please visit our website.

In our next installment,we’ll highlight discuss our partnership with DISA and the plans for a government wide Cloud IDIQ contract.
Also, please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITS to join the conversation.

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GSA AdvantageSelect: The Right Product, Right Now

Visit the GSAAdvantageSelect online portal.

 

For this Great Government through Technology Blog post, we welcome special guest author Erville Koehler, Region 4 Regional Commissioner.

GSA is making it easier than ever to use one of its flagship portals, GSA Advantage!, with the addition of GSA AdvantageSelect: a money saving program that makes shopping for pre-competed IT commodities easier and faster. AdvantageSelect draws concepts from category management, agile development, acquisition streamlining, and world class practices from Government and industry and is a game changing initiative for federal buyers. 

From this portal, a contracting officer or purchase card holder need only enter the quantity they require, and can proceed straight to check-out — so buying a commodity is finally as easy as click and pay. GSA has done the work for you by competing these items up front, applying category management principles and utilizing our latest procurement tools.

GSA plans to test two GSA AdvantageSelect offerings this fiscal year:  

  • 22 inch monitors in August 2015  
  • 14 inch laptop in September 2015 based on Strategic Sourcing Group standard configuration  

Category Management – The Path to Select

As part of GSA’s category management initiative, we met with agencies and vendors to determine basic parameters for purchasing commodities. Conversations ranged from small business utilization to ordering methods to life cycle management constraints. A significant step was the development of standard configurations for items like laptops and desktops.

Taking best practices from places like Army, Air Force, and even commercial entities such as Amazon, we rethought our approach to the commodities market and considered the tools available to us. We realized we already had many of the components to create a better buying portal, we simply needed to modify and re-purpose them.

Agile development – concept to production in less than four months

Agile development techniques were applied to systems development and the acquisition process itself.  Our goal is to test concepts on a small scale quickly, evaluate results, and proceed based on the results. For 22 inch monitors and the standard 14 inch laptop configuration, we are actually testing different procurement approaches and systems at the same time. For monitors, we are using e-buy, included quantity price breaks, and a classic GSA Advantage! upload method. For the laptop, we are using the GSA Reverse Auction Platform, no quantity price breaks, and a new GSA Advantage upload method. Although the tests are small, the data is a critical component in determining  our approach going forward.

Conceptually, the underlying GSA AdvantageSelect procurement will result in a short duration single award vehicle that will be posted to GSA AdvantageSelect.  “Short duration” will likely be defined by category or commodity to be consistent with production from an industry perspective, and life cycle management from an Agency perspective. Monitors which are plug and play could be relatively short (e.g., 3 months), whereas, a laptop which require more configuration might be a little longer (e.g., 1 year).

Moving forward – a place for businesses large and small

After the monitors industry day, interest in GSA AdvantageSelect was high, but small business concerns were raised. Fortunately, the regulatory framework offers an array of options to ensure small business remains a healthy part of the industrial base. In the future, the GSA AdvantageSelect program will expand and include competitive acquisition strategies so that multiple product offerings can be awarded not only using full and open competitive procedures, but also solely within the various sub-categories of small businesses, thus providing our customers with multiple product offerings from the entire socio-economic spectrum of industry.

As we continue testing the portal, meeting with customers, and conducting industry days, AdvantageSelect will evolve. Few things are set in stone at this point, however three goals remain in sharp focus: robust small business participation, savings for commodities purchased, and a streamlined acquisition process.

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IT Acquisition Best Practices & Dispelling Myths

In June, I read a great open letter from Susan M. Gordon, Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, that explained how to make sure we’re doing the best we can to get technology and related services to help us meet our missions.

This blog post is an open letter follow-up with seven best practices for agencies acquiring mission enhancing IT solutions such as software, hardware, telecommunications, cybersecurity, cloud, satellite, mobile, and other IT. These tips should help dispel some common myths.

  1. Make Market Research Personal – Don’t assume market research on paper and the Internet gives you the full picture. You’ll need to talk to experts each time you need an acquisition. Talk to industry, other agencies with similar requirements, and GSA. We administer many government-wide shared IT acquisition contracts. Check out the government’s open and independent resource – the Government Acquisition Gateway and hallways – as a starting point. You’ll find white papers, best practices, potential and existing contracts from GSA and other sources, and community discussion groups where you can ask questions and talk with other agencies.
  2. Always Talk to GSA – Each time you need IT, talk to us about pre-established contracts that might work well for you. It won’t take a lot of time to talk to us – we can use video conferencing or visit you in person. Contact a GSA Customer Service Director in your area to schedule a meeting. In addition to contract vehicles, GSA may be able to share an agency contact with you that recently addressed the same challenges and perhaps developed a best practice in the process. Even if you don’t have a live requirement at the moment, using GSA as a resource for strategic ongoing market research will make for better, well-educated, future buying decisions.
  3. Let Go of Preconceived Judgments – Some people have predetermined notions of many of the pre-established contracts. Letting go of preconceived judgments opens the door to finding the best solutions. For example, you may be surprised to learn how much control you have while using pre-established vehicles, and you may be amazed to find you can often and easily obtain lower pricing through additional negotiations than published, list prices.
  4. Know that Things Change – Don’t think that the government-wide contract you or your contractor checked a year ago is still the same. GSA and other agencies continuously refresh shared contracts and make them more user-centric every day. We’re talking more to government and industry. We constantly seek input on what agencies need today and what industry can offer. We are evolving contracts to meet those needs. For example, this year we’ve added a Cloud SIN to IT Schedule 70 to help agencies find their best cloud solutions easier than ever before. Even though a contract didn’t meet every need in the past doesn’t mean today’s options won’t be your best choices. The GSA of today is not the GSA of yesterday.
  5. Dig Further – If you have an industry partner working with you on market research and acquisition planning who recommends you go open source rather than use an existing contract, do you stop there? As a best practice, don’t. Keep in mind that in-house advisors have more involvement and financial benefit in doing steps required for open-source acquisitions, while pre-established contracts have those steps already completed. For example, if you have a contractor doing market research who recommends going open market for commercial satellite services, consider instead that GSA’s Custom SATCOM (CS2) and CS2-SB contracts have vetted partners and solutions without the overhead and cost of creating an entirely new contract. And remember to evaluate advisor recommendations to ensure they don’t steer toward a specific contract because they’re on it.
  6. Look for Efficiencies – Agencies who use existing contract vehicles with the IDIQ Fair Opportunity process or Multiple Award Contract/Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) save months in acquisition lead time. Why? Because many of the initial steps and approvals required to establish a full stand-alone procurement action, including pre-qualifying industry partners,  have already been done for you. Having to find and qualify contractors can add six months or more to the procurement process.
  7. Lower Agency and Taxpayer Costs – Government-wide contracts can achieve cost savings because multiple agencies are already using them, increasing volume buying from government to industry partners and driving competition to lower costs. I did a recent blog post, for example, about the FSSI Wireless BPAs and how they’re saving agencies on average 27% over what they had been spending on wireless services and devices. Start at the published contract pricing, but always request discounts and lower pricing. Whether you get discounts in initial years or option years, your actual cost will be lower than the initial cost evaluation.

The ultimate motivator and driver for all of us in public service isn’t what we perceive or think is best, but what we find after due diligence is really best for our missions and the American taxpayers.

If you chose not to use GSA for an IT acquisition, it’s ok. But a fresh conversation with GSA should always be part of the equation.

Please follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITS to join the conversation.

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Schedule 70 Cloud Special Item Number (SIN), the Cloud One-Stop Shop

Federal, state and local agencies looking for cloud solutions now have a new and easy way to find and acquire commercial solutions to meet missions, achieve efficiencies and savings, and comply with federal mandates such as Cloud First.

On April 29, GSA added Cloud Special Item Number (SIN) 132-40 to IT Schedule 70.

It’s like being able to shop at a “cloud one-stop shop” on IT Schedule 70. And agencies that want additional or custom IT and cloud options can still easily shop the entire IT Schedule 70 and GSA’s other governmentwide contracts.

For an even broader choice in IT solutions, agencies have access to the new Acquisition Gateway, providing them with governmentwide contracts, pricing data, templates, best practices and more.

Stocking the Cloud SIN Shelves

The cloud SIN has several sub-categories: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Industry suppliers are encouraged to submit proposals so they can be included as IT Schedule 70 cloud SIN partners. View the  IT Schedule 70 solicitation for instructions on how to develop and submit proposals for the cloud SIN by following IT Schedule 70 procedures.

GSA will help smoothly transition existing IT Schedule 70 cloud services industry partners to the cloud SIN.

Cloud Efficiencies, Savings, Modernization

Cloud IT is one of the most important technology trends we have access to today. In fact, this year Deltek’s Federal Industry Analysis team predicted that spending on federal cloud computing services will climb rapidly over the next five years, hitting $6.5 billion in fiscal year 2019 (FY 19).

Cloud has huge potential for savings. It also gives government a flexible and efficient alternative to replace costly, outdated legacy systems. Agencies benefit from pay-for-use services that expand and contract according to need, rather than requiring bigger investments in less flexible and more costly infrastructure and resource investments. The new cloud SIN and the industry solutions behind it, enable exactly that.

The cloud SIN will be critical to help agencies acquire cloud easier and faster by:

  •      providing a single SIN for all cloud needs instead of hiding them across multiple Schedule 70 SINs,
  •      allowing agencies to more easily create custom cloud BPAs, and
  •      bringing new and evolving cloud technologies to market faster.

Clear Path to Access Cloud

The cloud SIN offers a clear path to cloud services. It gives buyers the ability to more easily differentiate between cloud technologies and buy what they need.

The SIN is designed to be the first stop for agencies to identify cloud solutions and suppliers that will satisfy NIST’s five essential cloud characteristics.

Agencies will find a growing list of cloud options available through the cloud SIN as GSA continues to add suppliers over the coming months. Agencies will be able to go to eBuy and GSA Advantage! to search for ‘SIN 132-40” to locate cloud options, suppliers, pricing for further action and negotiations, and make purchases.  And use eLibrary and search “SIN 132-40.”

Buyers looking for cloud solutions can also use Cloud Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs), Governmentwide Acquisition Vehicles or refer to the Cloud Technology webpage for more cloud computing resources.  And more and more of our solutions are  Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) compliant providing an additional level of security and cost savings.

Follow us on Twitter @GSA_ITS for updates on our cloud offerings and everything going on with our IT and telecommunications solutions.