USCG boosts ceiling on IT contract to stay on .mil network

The tempo of task orders on a key Coast Guard IT infrastructure vehicle is accelerating so fast that the agency must raise the contract ceiling or risk getting booted off the Department of Defense's central .mil network.

According to contracting documents released May 8, the Coast Guard is adding $13.5 million, or about 25 percent, to the ceiling value of the five-year Technology Enterprise Support Services contract, which is currently held by CSRA. The new ceiling value is $68.1 million. The TESS blanket purchase agreement covers the USCG IT infrastructure on land and sea.

The TESS blanket purchase agreement was originally devised in 2011 and awarded in 2016. Since then, according to documents, "the pace of change (battle rhythm) within the world of IT had dramatically increased."

The contract is scheduled to run through 2020, but according to contracting documents, "the ability to order additional IT engineering services is so critical that the USCG will forego option period 5 and move out early on the competitive follow-on award, projected to be in place prior to December 2020."

Some of demand is coming from U.S. Cyber Command. The documents state that the Coast Guard does not have the option to "delay responses to these US Cyber command directed orders, as doing so would put the USCG in jeopardy of being quarantined from the .mil network, which would effectively shut down USCG operations."