GSA helps agencies prepare for Alliant transition

Almost two years after a protest derailed the program, the General Services Administration is helping agencies prepare for the transition to the Alliant information technology contract, which should be open for business at the end of April.

GSA officials said on Thursday that barring another award protest, they expected a notice by the end of this month from the contracting officer to proceed on Alliant. The agency awarded the Alliant contract for a second time to 59 companies in March, after a judge upheld a protest from eight companies against the original July 2007 award to 29 firms.

Alliant is a $50 billion governmentwide IT contract, with a five-year base period and a five-year renewal option. Together with the $15 billion Alliant Small Business contract, the program aims to be the largest and most comprehensive vehicle for procuring IT services in the federal government, and it replaces GSA's ANSWER and Millennia IT contracts, which expire in 2009.

Mary Powers-King, director of governmentwide contracts, said GSA is working with Alliant vendors to educate customers about the program's offerings and conducting training for federal contracting officers who will use Alliant.

To make use of a GWAC, procurement officers must complete contract-specific training, which can take from one hour up to an entire afternoon. At the end of the training, contracting officials receive a delegation of procurement authority, which allows them to start purchasing from the contract vehicle.

"We try to make [the training] as painless as possible," said Jim Ghiloni, deputy office director for governmentwide contracts at GSA. Ghiloni said training can be conducted via webinars, in-person, or by any other method the agency requests.

Alliant's unique elements include its wide scope and high level of flexibility; under the contract, agencies use any type of contract, including fixed-price, cost-plus, time and materials, or cost reimbursable. Contracting officials also can mix and match, using several types of contracts as they see fit on one task order. Agencies also can insert their own clauses or security requirements into task orders.

"Alliant is very comprehensive, the scope is anything IT as long as it's primarily services-based," Powers-King said. "It's designed to be out there for a while and accommodate a lot of emerging requirements and technologies. We expect it to be a viable player in the IT community over the next several years."

PJ Bulger, director of the enterprise acquisition center at McLean, Va.-based technology firm QinetiQ North America, one of the Alliant awardees, said his company has been receiving inquiries for more than a year, and he was optimistic about the contract vehicle because of its focus on complete solutions. He said he expected the contract to be very successful, partly because of the length and high dollar value.

"Because it's an IT solutions contract, the difference is it offers every type of IT service, but also hardware and software solutions," Bulger said. "Customers can tailor it to their needs and bring all three together very quickly in a united approach. That's the key."

The timing of the contract would coincide with agencies' requirements to spend stimulus funds quickly. Ghiloni said Alliant is designed specifically to streamline the process for large IT procurements, allowing agencies to complete "sizable" acquisitions in six to eight weeks rather than six to eight months.

"It's one purchase, and then get people on the ground supporting the mission very quickly," Powers-King said. "That's the goal -- quickness while adhering to standards."

Powers-King acknowledged that the road from the original awards process through the protest and recompetition had been "very, very hard and long."

"There have clearly been a lot of frustrations; we clearly didn't anticipate the court case. Keeping the energy level, morale and focus up have been challenges I've seen," Powers-King said.

"Obviously, if we made the award a year ago, we would have workflow now and be much further down the road," Ghiloni said. "There's an impact, but nothing that's going to cripple the program. Right now, folks are very excited.