GSA bumps STARS II ceiling by $7 billion

The General Services Administration raised the ceiling of its 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) II contract by $7 billion, to $22 billion.

In early April, the GSA's 8(a) STARS II governmentwide contract hit its $15 billion ordering obligation limit.

"By raising the 8(a) STARS II ceiling, GSA continues to ensure that we meet the needs of our federal agency customers," said GSA Administrator Emily Murphy in a June 23 statement on the increase. "As agency demand for IT products and services has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, GSA is proud that STARS II will remain available to help agencies deliver world class IT services."

GSA started limiting task orders on the GWAC to agencies whose contracting officers had obtained a "control number" to use the contract vehicle, but it stopped issuing new control numbers.

STARS II is a small business set-aside for customized IT services and IT-services-based solutions from 787 small business contractors that qualify under Small Business Administration standards. GSA said the contract is used by 50 federal agencies to plan and supply long-term IT projects.

All 787 contractors remain on the vehicle, GSA said in its announcement. Agencies can place new task orders through Aug. 30, 2021, and work can continue on those new orders through June 30, 2022.

GSA is working on a new iteration of the contract, 8(a)STARS III.

In a June 10 blog post, Laura Stanton, acting assistant commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Services' Office of Information Technology Category, said the agency plans to issue the final solicitation for the STARS III contract by end of the federal government's fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The initial STARS III request for information went out last August.

Stanton said the increase to STARS II wasn't the first for the popular contract to accommodate agency demand.

"As we move into this contract's fourth generation we can say for certain that this program is a huge success. A significant number of prior 8(a) STARS program participants have grown their businesses so much that we now see them thriving with the big companies on GSA's Alliant 2 GWAC," she said.