GSA working on Alliant 2 Small Business replacement

Development work continues on an alternative to the General Services Administration’s cancelled $15 billion Alliant 2 Small Business vehicle, according to one of the agency’s top acquisition executives.

“We’re going to work on the Alliant 2 SB re-procurement,” Keith Nakasone, deputy assistant commissioner of IT Acquisition in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said at a July 15 Advanced Technology Academic Research Center event. Nakasone told the virtual audience to “stay tuned” on the replacement vehicle for the cancelled small business government wide acquisition contract.

Just before the July 4 holiday, GSA announced it was dropping Alliant 2 SB completely after the contract had slogged through a year of protests at the Government Accountability Office and at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. In that announcement, GSA said it is working on a new approach to governmentwide contracts for small businesses.

"Plans are underway for a new and enhanced small business GWAC program that better reflects the changing landscape and addresses the needs of agencies to access the expertise of small businesses," the agency said in a July 3 announcement. "The changes will support recent developments in cybersecurity, emerging technologies, and supply chain risk management."

In his July 15 remarks, Nakasone said GSA has been working efficiently on developing and spinning out new contracting vehicles despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He pointed to GSA’s solicitation for 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) II issued on July 6 as an example of the agency pushing ahead with complex contract development in a difficult environment.

In creating the new 8(a) STARS solicitation, Nakasone said, GSA had listened to industry on how to open the contract up and make it more flexible for small businesses.

The contract, he said, has “significant” changes to small business past performance and qualification requirements. It also includes templates that small businesses can follow to more efficiently assemble their bid proposals and apply.