GSA, Executive Councils Seek Vendor to Improve Transparency in IT Acquisition

A group acquisition offices based out of the General Services Administration and the full set of federal executive councils want to improve data collection, analysis and transparency around government IT buys and are looking for a vendor to support this wide effort.

As the government’s central buyer, GSA is well aware that data and transparency are greatly lacking when it comes to how—and how much—federal agencies are buying IT products and services. As various components within GSA grapple with these issues, the agency is in the early stages of developing the Governmentwide IT Transparency Professional Support Services, or GITPSS, contract.

“Congress and taxpayers have long pressed for better information about how federal IT dollars are spent and managed,” according to a request for information posted to SAM.gov. “This RFI will help the government gain knowledge of the interest, capabilities, and qualifications of various companies to provide IT, and non-IT, professional services in the support of multiple governmentwide PMOs, councils, and other governmentwide initiatives.”

The vendor would work with a wide range of GSA-based programs and offices, including: the Office of the Governmentwide Policy; Technology Business Management Program Management Office; IT Modernization Program Management Office, also known as the Data Center and Cloud Optimization Initiative PMO; Federal Executive Councils, such as the Chief Information Officers Council, Chief Human Capital Officers Council and Chief Acquisition Officers Council, among others; and the Federal Acquisition Service’s IT Vendor Management Office.

“GSA seeks to acquire experts, managers, analysts and/or specialists that can lead, implement, and support a wide range of improvement initiatives, in a wide range of functional areas—in support of various projects,” the RFI states, “Including: process/technology assessments, improvement projects, pilot implementations of new technology and processes, research/analysis/report writing, benchmarking and data gathering, development of guidance/policy, data analytics, and development of training content.”

While the full scope of the contract is broad, the RFI boils the main goals in six tasks:

• Program and project management and support.
• Customer assistance services and related support services, including specialized IT subject matter support, website content management support and communications and outreach support.
• Strategic planning.
• Data analytics.
• Training.
• Services in support of the executive councils and their functional areas, including implementing technology and process improvement pilot efforts.

The RFI offers detailed descriptions of what will be expected for each deliverable.

Responses are due by 2 p.m. Aug. 31. Questions must be submitted before 2 p.m. Aug. 19.