GSA Needs an IT Vendor to Help Manage Its Lease App: G-REX

The General Services Administration, in its role as the government’s landlord, developed an app to help agencies manage their lease agreements and is looking for an IT vendor to support ongoing maintenance and enhancements to the system.

GSA’s Real Estate Exchange, or G-REX, is a tool that allows leasing officers to manage the entire lease lifecycle digitally and ensures compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

“G-REX leverages an electronic lease file checklist and electronic milestone schedule to allow the leasing community guidance and flexibility while managing lease procurements,” according to a request for information posted to SAM.gov. “Policy guidance is also incorporated employing business logic and PBS common services integration to aid and document lease procurements.”

The Public Buildings Service’s IT Service shop, PBS-ITS, is in the market for a vendor to support this system, including managing ongoing operation and maintenance through agile sprints, help desk support and assisting with enhancements to the tool if specific funding is available.

The contract is expected to focus solely on supporting the G-REX app, including updates, security, usability improvements and integration with a dozen other platforms and apps. The RFI notes that GSA’s larger IT environments, “operating systems, VMware, networking support and provisioning and support government furnished equipment/information are outside the scope” of the contract.

Maintenance updates currently ship in two-week sprints, timed to “run in parallel with maintenance and enhancements,” the documents state, with two to six enhancement deployments planned each year depending on funding.

“Enhancements will have their own associated funding that is approved separately from normal maintenance,” the RFI explains. “Enhancements would include the creation of a new module or other major changes to the functionality of the application.”

The initial documents are meant as an opening dialog between GSA, its tenant customers and industry.

“We recognize that as our GSA customers are better served, their national customers are also better able to meet the demands for performance and efficiency to the citizens,” the RFI states. “Therefore, as we approach the need to develop requirements for a new global IT services contract vehicle, we invite the industry to suggest ideas in technology and business practices that will help us move to the next level of service.”

As PBS-ITS plans to conduct its market research with an eye toward lowering the costs of IT services while simultaneously making those services more effective.

“Through this industry outreach effort, the PBS-ITS seeks feedback from the industry in the definition of our scope and IT outsourcing objectives,” contracting officers wrote. “PB-ITS’s inquiry is preliminary, but we do look forward to seeing a vendor solution and approach proposed.”

The RFI includes 35 questions for industry, covering integration, security, scalability, feasibility, acquisition and more.

The contract is expected to run for one year, with renewal options. GSA officials hope to have the contract awarded by March 2022.

Responses to the RFI are due by 9 a.m. July 2.