GSA doubles down on STARS
The next iteration of the General Services Administration’s popular small business tech and IT services contract will top the current vehicle’s spending ceiling.
After bumping up the ceiling of one its popular small business governmentwide contracts over $20 billion, the General Service Administration issued its solicitation for its replacement contract.
GSA’s July 6 request for proposals for the next iteration of its 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) III contract will more than double the current obligation ceiling.
The 8(a) STARS governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC) has been one of GSA’s most popular contracts for agencies buying IT services from 8(a) prime contractors.
The agency stopped taking new orders this spring on 8(a) STARS II because the contract hit its $15 billion ordering obligation limit in early April. In late June, the agency bumped the contract’s limit up by $7 billion, to $22 billion.
GSA said the fourth-generation GWAC will have a $50 billion ceiling and include a greater focus on emerging technologies as well as performance outside of the continental United States.
“I am very proud of GSA’s work in developing the STARS III GWAC with a contract ceiling of $50 billion, more than twice the size of STARS II,” GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said in a July 6 statement. “STARS III continues GSA’s legacy of creating opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses while helping federal agencies accomplish information technology (IT) missions.”
“We are excited to expand the scope of the STARS III GWAC to cover OCONUS performance and address emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and virtual reality,” said GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Julie Dunne in the statement.
STARS III will increase small business’ opportunities to provide expertise and innovation for federal IT modernization and improve virtual citizen service delivery, she said.