General Services Administration (GSA) Deputy Assistant Commissioner Larry Hale on Dec. 6 ran down the latest developments on several forthcoming governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs), including the Polaris GWAC – which is aimed at small businesses – earning a best-in-class (BIC) designation.
GSA’s GWACs program aims to provide Federal agencies with access to cost-effective and innovative IT solutions such as software, enterprise architecture, and systems design.
Speaking at a GovExec event, Hale said that several of GSA’s newest GWACs – including Alliant 3 and Polaris – will feature regular technology refreshes and on-ramps for contracted vendors.
“The other thing we’re doing now that we had not previously done with our family of GWACs is on-ramps,” said Hale. “Polaris will have regular on-ramps to refresh the industry pool, and Alliant 3 is also being built to have to have regular tech refresh and regular on-ramps.”
Polaris will also likely receive a BIC designation, Hale shared, noting that while the contract vehicle isn’t yet on the market GSA expects that after reviewing its components it will soon receive the official designation.
“We don’t have any more questions from OMB [Office of Business Management], so, everything’s in place for that to be designated best in class,” said Hale.
To receive a BIC designation, GWACs must meet rigorous requirements regarding definitions and planning processes among using data-driven strategies to dictate buying and consumption behavior, implementing category and performance management strategies, and receiving independently validated reviews. OMB has previously suggested that agencies aim to use BIC contracts.
Further on the Polaris front, Hale said, “We’ve got four pools [including] small-businesses, women-owned small business, disabled veteran-owned small business and for the first time, a dedicated pool for historically underutilized business zone or HUBzone,” said Hale. “We’re using category management to promote small businesses, so making a conscientious effort to ensure that the misconception that category management by definition hurts small businesses. We’re making sure that it actually helps.”
