SPIRIT to move DHS contracts

Department of Homeland Security

The Homeland Security Department's multibillion-dollar Security, Planning and Integrated Resources for Information Technology (SPIRIT) procurement vehicle will award a maximum of 128 contracts in four performance areas, a Coast Guard official said today.

The SPIRIT project will be a multiple-award contract with an estimated overall value of $10 billion, said Sandra Jean Borden, project manager of the Coast Guard's Ports and Waterways Safety System.

"SPIRIT will not be a mandatory procurement tool for the Coast Guard or any other DHS office, but will provide an additional acquisition strategy tool for information technology resources," Borden said.

The four performance areas for contract awards are:

-- Information Management Analysis and Planning.

-- Information Systems Engineering and Design.

-- Information Systems Operations and Management.

-- Information Systems Security.

Each area has four tiers. Up to eight contracts will be awarded in each tier, or up to 32 per area.

Vendors may receive SPIRIT contracts in any of the four areas, and are not limited to just one functional area. Homeland Security officials will require pre-approval of a prime contractor's teaming partners and subcontractors, Borden said.

SPIRIT contracts will be IDIQ — Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity — and will "facilitate a task-ordering process," according to Borden. The contracts will promote the use of performance-based service contracting and allow for incentive contracting features per task order, including award fees and award terms.

Formerly known as the Coast Guard Information Technology Services Solutions program, SPIRIT was publicly announced on November 19, 2002.

Homeland Security officials held four Industry Day sessions in December 2002, and has posted the answers to more than 600 vendor questions on the FedBizOpps website.