GSA selects 12 for Millennia services pacts

The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service last week awarded to 12 vendors its $25 billion Millennia contract for information technology services.

The Millennia contract, awarded by FTS' Federal Computer Acquisition Center (Fedcac) Solutions Development Center, covers software engineering, communications and system integration. It is the follow-on to FTS' multiple-award, indefinite-quantity 9600 contract, which exceeded its $840 million ceiling less than two years after its award.

"Millennia is designed to support our large system integrations, large software development - our large projects," said Charles Self, assistant commissioner of FTS' Office of Information Technology Integration, which oversees Fedcac. The contract focuses on "the worldwide and nationwide kind of projects, the kinds of projects these vendors can do."

The 12 winning vendors, picked from a field of 21 companies that submitted bids, are: Boeing Information Services Inc., Booz-Allen & Hamilton Inc., Computer Sciences Corp., DynCorp, Lockheed Martin Services Inc., Logicon Inc., OAO Corp., Litton/PRC Inc., Raytheon Technical Services Co., Science Applications International Corp., SRA International Corp. and Unisys Corp.

GSA and the 12 vendors will be meeting this week to develop marketing strategies and the process for the new contract. "There's no moss growing here; they're starting off quickly," said Elaine Dauphin, director of GSA programs at CSC.

Agencies such as the General Accounting Office have begun to come to GSA looking for the IT services available through Millennia, said Iris Faltz, Millennia's contracting officer.

Starting with Millennia, FTS will carefully monitor small-business and subcontracting goals on the agency's contracts. For Millennia, GSA wants 35 percent of the business to go to small business, which is 12 percent higher than the federally mandated goal of 23 percent on multiple-award contracts. Of the 35 percent, GSA wants vendors to direct 10 percent to small, disadvantaged firms and 5 percent to woman-owned businesses. The remainder will go to other small businesses. "We're going to be watching that very carefully," Faltz said.

GSA has tied the five-year option on Millennia not only to the prime contractors' performance but also to the contractors' ability to meet the subcontracting goals, she said. FTS administrators have told contractors that FTS would make that decision on a pass/fail basis.

Millennia is intended to replace only the high-end requirements from 9600, including long-term relationship contracting. Another contract, called "Millennia Lite," is under development to handle agencies' smaller, one-time-services needs. FTS is working to set aside that contract for midsize businesses normally excluded from federal multiple-award contracts, according to an agency source.