Army closes ITES hardware contract to non-Army buyers

The Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 2 Hardware contract is now closed to all but Army users. The Army ordered the clamp down was ordered as part of an extension of the contract through August 2013. The Army needed the extension because the original end date of the contract was Feb. 9. The extension was approved Jan. 27, according to the Army. The follow-on ITES-3H has not been awarded yet.

According to a source, excluding non-Army users of the contract made getting an extension easier "because there were fewer hurdles to cross."

The source did not think the exclusion of other users would have a significant impact on his company or other prime contractors on the contract. “There are a lot of other vehicles we can move people too,” the source said.

Deltek is estimating that the request for proposals for the new contract will be released this month, but awards wil not be made until June 2013, with a contract start date of August 2013.

According to Deltek, 70 percent of ITES-2H business was with the Army. The Navy is the second largest user with 20 percent of the business. The rest is scattered among defense and civilian users. The contract has a $5 billion ceiling and $3.9 billion has been spent.

The prime contractors are: Dell, IBM, CDW-G, GTSI Corp., Iron Bow Technologies, and World Wide Technology.