Final RFP Released for $50B Health IT-Focused CIO-SP4 Contract

The final solicitation for the fourth generation governmentwide acquisition contract, or GWAC, targeted toward health IT tools and services was released this week—with $50 billion in contracting opportunities spread across 10 task areas.

The request for proposals for the Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4, or CIO-SP4, contract had been delayed for months while the documents made the rounds of relevant officials. Program managers at the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center, or NITAAC, said the delays were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the documents needed to be approved by officials at various agencies who were either not always readily available or themselves working on critical pandemic-related issues.

The CIO-SP4 contract follows its predecessor, CIO-SP3, and likewise covers general IT solutions, with an added focus on biomedical and health IT.

“CIO-SP4 builds upon the success of CIO-SP3 and takes into account several lessons learned that we believe will enhance the experience of our federal agency customers and contract holders alike,” Brian Goodger, NITAAC acting director, said in a statement announcing the final RFP.

The new contract’s offerings will be spread across 10 focus areas:

• IT services for biomedical research, health sciences and health care
• CIO support
• Digital media
• Outsourcing
• IT operations and maintenance
• Integration services
• Cybersecurity
• Digital government and cloud services
• Enterprise resource planning
• Software development

These task areas differ slightly from the 10 task areas under CIO-SP3, which does not have designated sections for “digital media” or “cybersecurity,” but does have “imaging” and “critical infrastructure protection and information assurance.”

“The scope of this contract is intended to cover leading edge, emerging, and future cutting-edge technologies that will evolve over the life of this contract,” the RFP states. “Because technology advances over the period of performance of this contract are inevitable, the scope of this contract takes into consideration that task order requirements are permitted to include future types IT services and solutions as they arise.”

While the contract is targeted toward health IT requirements, any federal program can purchase tools and services off the GWAC.

That said, the RFP includes specific language for buyers at the Health and Human Services Department—requiring orders under $1.3 million to be set aside for small businesses—and the Defense Department—which requires waivers and has new requirements under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program.

The contract will have a $50 billion ceiling to start, with a five-year base period and one five-year optional add-on.

Bids are due no later than June 28.

In the meantime, Goodger reminded federal buyers that CIO-SP3 is still an option.

“We want to remind agencies that while they anticipate CIO-SP4, CIO-SP3 still remains a vital option for their procurement needs,” he said. “CIO-SP3 expires in May 2022, has ample ceiling room and awards issued before the expiration of CIO-SP3 can be extended up to five years.”