GSA may end GWAC era

The era of governmentwide acquisition contracts might be coming to a close at the General Services Administration.

Speaking at the Washington Technology Top 100 conference today, Ed O’Hare, assistant commissioner of the Office of Integrated Technology Services at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said the only GWACs GSA will continue supporting are Alliant and Alliant Small Business or vehicles targeted to companies in specific socioeconomic categories, such as minority-owned businesses.

For the long term, GSA will likely merge the GWAC program with the schedules. “But that will take years, not months,” he added.

O’Hare said the merger of the procurement programs became a possibility after GSA combined the Federal Supply Service, which managed the schedules, and the Federal Technology Service, which managed GSA’s stable of GWAC contracts.

Phasing out GWACs was partly a response to criticism and a growing sense that there were too many GWACs, he said.

“We know that each GWAC is time-consuming and expensive to respond to,” he said.

GWACs that are expiring, such as Millennia Lite, will not be renewed. Instead, Alliant and Alliant Small Business will fill the void, O’Hare said. Those contracts have a $50 billion ceiling over 10 years, meaning they will still be in use through 2018.

O’Hare was part of a panel at the annual Top 100 conference. Moderated by Bill Gormley, president and chief executive officer of the Washington Management Group, the panel focused on whether the Obama administration is creating a new federal market.

Mike Fox, senior vice president of corporate strategic development at SRA International, voiced support for agency-specific multiple-award contracts.

“Those have real value because they are designed to meet specific agency needs,” he said. “But we don’t need GWACs with 50 or 60 winners. Then it looks just like a schedule.”

Lesley Field, deputy administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, also spoke about procurement reforms at the conference.