Commerce readies COMMITS sequel

COMMITS information

The Commerce Department has started preliminary work on a new contract vehicle to succeed its Commerce Information Technology Solutions (Commits) contract, which is reaching its ceiling a year ahead of schedule.

"We're going to pursue approval from [the Office of Management and Budget] for a follow-on," said Mike Sade, director of the Office of Acquisition Management at Commerce. "We're starting to do some research and survey the community." The new contract will be called Commits NexGen.

Commerce plans to file an official notice of the contract on the FedBizOpps Web site in May and issue a request for proposals during the summer.

Commits, an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract reserved for small businesses, was supposed to award $1.5 billion in work during its five-year life. Instead, it's fast approaching that ceiling now, in its fourth year, Sade said.

Work under the new contract is expected to start in January 2004, he said.