The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued the final draft solicitation for pool one of its Ascend blanket purchase agreement (BPA), which aims to serve as a one-stop shop for agencies to acquire cloud computing products and services.
GSA issued the final draft solicitation on Oct. 1, noting that it incorporates feedback the agency received after the release of the first draft solicitation for pool one in May 2024.
Ascend is structured into three pools: pool one is dedicated to infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) cloud solutions, pool two targets software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud offerings, and pool three is centered on cloud-related IT professional services.
“It remains GSA’s intent to award the Ascend BPA in a phased manner as a featured part of GSA’s Cloud Marketplace,” the solicitation says. “We plan to make multiple awards in each pool, each with its own specific scope that will allow all Federal agencies and other eligible entities to acquire and implement secure, integrated commercial IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS cloud solutions, including cloud-focused labor services.”
GSA encouraged interested parties to view the final draft solicitation for pool one on eBuy and provide feedback by Oct. 18.
“Anticipated award dates are yet to be determined. More information is to follow,” the posting adds.
Last month, GSA also released requests for information (RFIs) for pools two and three of the Ascend BPA.
In the RFI targeting pool two, GSA invited vendors to provide feedback on the benefits, barriers, and challenges related to this track’s key priorities. The SaaS component of Ascend is composed of three sub-pools: office productivity and collaboration tools, customer relationship management and IT systems management, and IT asset management.
The RFI for pool three encompasses a broad scope and is divided into three sub-pools: application rationalization, multi-cloud management, and cloud migration and operations.
Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner for GSA’s Office of Information Technology Category, wrote in a Sept. 10 blog post on Ascend that the agency plans to “hold another industry day before issuing the final solicitation.”
