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DevOps Procurement

Hello,

We have a federal client that wants to merge two contracts – one is a software development BPA, and another is a single award O&M contract and both are ending around the same time. His vision is one, single aware DevOps contract, and he is asking us to lead the development of the acquisition.  Any recommendations on best practices or lessons learned would be extremely helpful as I have not had much success in finding anything so far. If anyone knows of any sample DevOps focused RFPs and/or SOW’s that would be an added bonus.

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Christopher Poole
Lead Associate
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Replies

  1. Christopher, could you let us know how these contracts were solicited? Were either set-asides (or sole-sources) for small business, 8(a), SDVOSB, HUBZone, etc.? My assumption is the current dev contract is multiple award? How many awardees? Are they using agile or waterfall or some hybrid?

    Are the current contracts using DevOps approaches now? Is the client org “DevOps” experienced, which will require individuals across the life cycle to understand the entire process and others’ roles?

    My initial reaction is there’s a lot of risk here, and any clarifications you can provide would help to understand those better.

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    Jason Bakke
    Proposal Manager
    Censeo Consulting Group (Censeo)
    Washington DC
    ————————————————————————-
    Original Message:
    Sent: 11-15-2016 11:21
    From: Christopher Poole
    Subject: DevOps Procurement

    Hello,

    We have a federal client that wants to merge two contracts – one is a software development BPA, and another is a single award O&M contract and both are ending around the same time. His vision is one, single aware DevOps contract, and he is asking us to lead the development of the acquisition.  Any recommendations on best practices or lessons learned would be extremely helpful as I have not had much success in finding anything so far. If anyone knows of any sample DevOps focused RFPs and/or SOW’s that would be an added bonus.

    ——————————
    Christopher Poole
    Lead Associate
    ——————————

    0
  2. Hi Christopher,

    In terms of sample language or SOWs you can begin to source from while you consider Jason’s questions, have you taken a look at the Agile Solicitation Builder that USDS put together? Its part of the TechFAR hub, and may be useful as a starting point to see the language for DevOps that it recommends.

    Here’s the link in case its helpful: Agile Solicitation Builder

    I also reached out to a few of my contacts who are federal COs, including some from the first iteration of the Digital IT Acquisition Professionals program, as I’m sure this question has been pondered once or twice before! I asked them to share their thoughts here so hopefully we’ll see continued activity on this thread.

    Thanks for posting!

    -Frank

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    Frank McNally
    Director, Learning & Content Development
    ————————————————————————-
    Original Message:
    Sent: 11-15-2016 11:21
    From: Christopher Poole
    Subject: DevOps Procurement

    Hello,

    We have a federal client that wants to merge two contracts – one is a software development BPA, and another is a single award O&M contract and both are ending around the same time. His vision is one, single aware DevOps contract, and he is asking us to lead the development of the acquisition.  Any recommendations on best practices or lessons learned would be extremely helpful as I have not had much success in finding anything so far. If anyone knows of any sample DevOps focused RFPs and/or SOW’s that would be an added bonus.

    ——————————
    Christopher Poole
    Lead Associate
    ——————————

    0
  3. Christopher,

    Based on some past experience, some of the best practices/lessons learned that we can share are:

    • Important to conduct through market research, to ensure that your set-aside is appropriate, given that the firm that you will need to do this will require a wide range of skills
    • Need separate key personnel requirements and Acceptable Quality Levels for each functional requirement area, because each piece of work will have very different measures of success
    • Important to be very specific in your requirements about the type / scope of development needed (e.g., what coding language?  Is analytics included?) AND whether you need a strategic partner to do some of the design work / architecture or is the agency going to provide that in-house.
    • Establishing an umbrella BPA with separate task orders (one for development and another for O&M) will help delineate roles and responsibilities

    Hope this helps!

    ——————————
    Kelly Hahn
    Censeo Consulting Group
    Washington DC
    ————————————————————————-
    Original Message:
    Sent: 11-16-2016 13:54
    From: Frank McNally
    Subject: DevOps Procurement

    Hi Christopher,

    In terms of sample language or SOWs you can begin to source from while you consider Jason’s questions, have you taken a look at the Agile Solicitation Builder that USDS put together? Its part of the TechFAR hub, and may be useful as a starting point to see the language for DevOps that it recommends.

    Here’s the link in case its helpful: Agile Solicitation Builder

    I also reached out to a few of my contacts who are federal COs, including some from the first iteration of the Digital IT Acquisition Professionals program, as I’m sure this question has been pondered once or twice before! I asked them to share their thoughts here so hopefully we’ll see continued activity on this thread.

    Thanks for posting!

    -Frank

    ——————————
    Frank McNally
    Director, Learning & Content Development
    ————————————————————————-
    Original Message:
    Sent: 11-15-2016 11:21
    From: Christopher Poole
    Subject: DevOps Procurement

    Hello,

    We have a federal client that wants to merge two contracts – one is a software development BPA, and another is a single award O&M contract and both are ending around the same time. His vision is one, single aware DevOps contract, and he is asking us to lead the development of the acquisition.  Any recommendations on best practices or lessons learned would be extremely helpful as I have not had much success in finding anything so far. If anyone knows of any sample DevOps focused RFPs and/or SOW’s that would be an added bonus.

    ——————————
    Christopher Poole
    Lead Associate
    ——————————

    0
  4. Christopher – That’s quite a hefty question and it is difficult to touch every point, but here’s a few thoughts.  I’ll assume this is a “C” type contract and not an IDIQ.  There is likely going to be many similarities between the dev portion and the devops portion of the PWS.  For example, both feed from the product backlog which is prioritized by the Government.  Both will result in user facing deliverables at the end of each iteration.  The differences might be the extent of testing, skillsets of dev team, etc.  As I’m thinking this through, some of this may not even be accentuated in a PWS all too much.  A vendor’s approach to each might look different, but those differences may not be captured in the PWS.  An effort like this may need more oversight so as to not let the two activities bleed into each other.  Just some thoughts.  Hope it helps.

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    Mark Junda
    Eatontown NJ
    (732) 795-1019
    ————————————————————————-
    Original Message:
    Sent: 11-15-2016 11:21
    From: Christopher Poole
    Subject: DevOps Procurement

    Hello,

    We have a federal client that wants to merge two contracts – one is a software development BPA, and another is a single award O&M contract and both are ending around the same time. His vision is one, single aware DevOps contract, and he is asking us to lead the development of the acquisition.  Any recommendations on best practices or lessons learned would be extremely helpful as I have not had much success in finding anything so far. If anyone knows of any sample DevOps focused RFPs and/or SOW’s that would be an added bonus.

    ——————————
    Christopher Poole
    Lead Associate
    ——————————

    0
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