The General Services Administration (GSA) is planning to update its IT Schedule 70 contract to simplify the variety of mobility services offered and expand the services available to agencies under Special Item Number (SIN) 132-53.
The proposed changes to SIN 132-53, expected by the end of 2018, would establish 11 new subcategories for the SIN, bring all mobility services under a single SIN, and mandate enhanced reporting requirements from agencies. Comments from the public on the proposed changes are due by November 16.
“The enhanced SIN addresses OMB [Office of Management and Budget] guidance to consolidate and standardize mobile acquisition across the federal government,” GSA said in a fact sheet on the planned changes. “The expanded SIN reflects how federal agencies are now buying mobility with an enterprise approach.”
The proposed subcategories for the revised SIN are:
- Wireless Carrier Services
- Other Mobility End-Point Infrastructure – Mobility infrastructure
- Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS)
- Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
- Mobile Backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS)
- Telecom Expense Management (TEM)
- Mobile Application Vetting
- Mobile Threat Protection (MTP)
- Mobile Identity Management
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Other/Mobile Services
The proposed changes were driven by feedback from an inter-agency Mobile Services Category Team, comprised of participants from over 30 agencies. “As a result of this effort, GSA was asked by both industry and Government mobile professionals to create a space for the mobile community within the Schedules Program that will include not only wireless telecommunication carriers and resellers but mobility management services and solutions,” the agency noted in an Interact blog post.
The benefits for government include simplified and standardized acquisition to lower costs, as well as “increased convenience and rapid access” to mobility solutions.
GSA highlighted the benefits for industry partners as well. One of the purposes and benefits of the revision is to “provide industry partners the opportunity to differentiate their mobility solutions from other IT- related offerings.”