Public Spend Forum’s Public Procurement Weekly Roundup

GSA issues multibillion-dollar presolicitation for SaaS procurement program, signed a governmentwide deal with IBM, and keeps encouraging agencies to apply for TMF money. This is Public Spend Forum’s Weekly Roundup for June 1, 2018.

GSA Issues Presolicitation for $2.5 Billion SaaS Procurement Program

The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to launch a potential $2.5 billion competition to update the government payroll and work schedule and leave management systems. A FedBizOpps notice says GSA considers awarding one or two blanket purchase agreements with a performance period of between 10 and 13 years under the NewPay Software as a Service Solution Procurement program. The agency and the Office of Management and Budget will conduct the acquisition through a phased evaluation approach among Information Technology Schedule 70 contract holders under Special Item Numbers 132-40 and 132-51.

GSA Signs Governmentwide Enterprise Deal for IBM Database Platforms

The General Services Administration (GSA) and IBM reached a government enterprise agreement for the company’s database platforms under the IT Schedule 70 Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act Enhancement Program. Alan Thomas, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said in a statement the delivery of database platforms through a single enterprise-level contract would help reduce duplication in the procurement process. The agreement allows federal, local, state, and tribal government agencies to place an order for three editions of IBM’s offerings for Windows, Linux, and UNIX operating systems at tiered, discounted prices through GSA’s IT Schedule 70 contract.

GSA Continues to Encourage Agencies to Apply for TMF Money

General Services Administration (GSA) officials are encouraging agencies to submit proposals with emerging technology applications. In a webinar detailing how agencies can submit IT modernization proposals for financing from the central fund administered by GSA, Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) Executive Director Elizabeth Cain and Justin Herman, GSA’s head of the Emerging Citizen Technology Office, said the overseeing TMF board “is specifically interested in projects that leverage emerging technologies.” Herman, whose office leads the governmentwide community for emerging tech efforts, plans to host a workshop June 8 encouraging agencies to submit proposals with emerging technology applications for TMF funding.

How Can Government Tech Keep Up With Private Sector?

According to federal CIO Suzette Kent, there used to be a time when the government was at the leading edge of technological innovation. But federal agencies have fallen so far behind that they will have to work aggressively just to catch up with basic private sector practices. Kent says agencies will have to pursue decades-long data and IT modernization plans so that government services meet the expectations citizens have cultivated from commercial tech experiences. Matt Lira, special assistant to the president for innovation policy and initiatives, said that he expects the modernization of government IT and management to be a problem that could take 20 or more years and that policies implemented across agencies will have to account for that length of time. The administration intends to address problems such as those through the President’s Management Agenda by emphasizing projects that break siloes between agencies and consider multiple aspects of the modernization process.

And in the news:

5 Ways Government Will Fight Against Botnets

GAO Overturns DoD Agreement for $1 Billion in Cloud Computing Services

Court Upholds Kaspersky Ban, Dismisses Lawsuits