What’s in Store for GSA’s Next Generation Small Business GWAC?
Last week, Jeff Shen attended a webinar on how General Services Administration (GSA) can work to improve future small business governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWAC). Attendees had the opportunity to learn about GSA’s vision for providing opportunities for small businesses and state-of-the-art IT solutions for federal agencies through next-generation GWACs. Below, Jeff provides a summary of what we can expect from GSA.
GSA’s Next Generation Small Business GWAC
- There will be an emphasis on HUBZone and WOSB firms in addition to small businesses.
- Proposal response will be similar to other GSA scorecard solicitations using templates.
- Draft RFP is planned for later this calendar year.
Goals for Next Small Business GWAC
- Will be a small business set-aside but want to do more for HUBZones and WOSBs since VETS II and 8(a) STARS II are already in existence and with 8(a) STARS III planned to be awarded in 2021.
- GSA is interested in creating a synergy between their GWACS
- May include a larger pool of winners in general.
- Plan to streamline the proposal process which includes using templates for the response.
- May consider having separate functional areas or pools for companies to compete in separate lanes.
- Modern technology is a key focus area for this contract such as Cloud, Cyber, and Anything as a Service
- May use an online submission tool instead of email for proposal submissions
- Will likely use similar methodologies/best practices such as STARS III, VETS II, Alliant 2 such as objective scoring criteria (GSA is open to receiving feedback on how to make it easier!)
- They may follow past project verifications such as tying a value to an attribute (i.e. NAICS code or PSC code)
- Are considering following the recent NDAA regulation which states that price need not be considered at the IDIQ level
Timeline and Next Steps
- GSA plans to issue a Draft RFP before the end of the calendar year.
- They are open to comments, feedback, and suggestions from industry.
- To stay engaged, GSA has created a Community of Interest page.
