U.S. General Services Administration
GSA seeking bids for Discovery BPA for Centers of Excellence
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) yesterday issued a Request for Quote (RFQ) on its Centers of Excellence (the CoEs) Blanket Purchase Agreement for Phase One Discovery and Assessment efforts (Discovery BPA). The RFQ is open for questions until Tuesday, March 19, 2019, and open for responses until Monday, April 1, 2019.
The RFQ incorporates the following key changes, among others, based on industry feedback from the Request for Information (RFI):
- A challenge question, specific to a functional area, to test a contractor’s technical capabilities, with responses due within 48 hours of posting.
- A scenario question, specific to the way the CoEs operate, to test a contractor’s ability to work with other contractors and government employees in a cross-functional team.
- The ability for a contractor to submit a response to just one functional area rather than a minimum of three.
With these three changes in particular, GSA aims to widen the opportunity for contractors to respond and to work with contractors who can best achieve the technical objectives of the CoEs. Contractors of any size or economic status, including small businesses, are encouraged to participate.
“The CoEs are focused on establishing a model of private/public relationships for IT modernization efforts that will prove fruitful to both sides of the partnership, and obtaining and incorporating industry feedback is a key way in which we hope to achieve that objective,” said Bob De Luca, Executive Director of the CoEs. “We are striving to set best practices in all aspects of our work, from the technical aspects to the procurement process itself, including both pre- and post-award related work.”
Rather than using one contract for discovery work at every partner agency, this BPA allows GSA to find the best-suited contractor for each agency’s exact needs, allowing CoE government and contractor teams to provide their best work.
Interested vendors can view and respond to the RFQ on eBuy, the official location of the RFQ, by searching RFQ ID number RFQ1354052 with a title of “Center of Excellence Discovery.” The RFQ is also posted for public viewing on the CoE Discovery BPA RFQ GitHub repository. It is important to note the GitHub posting is for informational purposes only and the only medium for submitting questions or responses will be via the methods outlined on eBuy.
About GSA
The mission of the U.S. General Services Administration is to deliver value and savings in real estate, acquisition, technology, and other mission-support services across the government. The CoEs provide agencies with consulting, acquisition, and IT engineering services to radically improve the way agencies design services and interact with their customers. To learn more about GSA visit gsa.gov or join the conversation on social media at @USGSA and @GSAEmily.
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