First Source RFP due by Nov. 18

Homeland Security Department officials plan to issue the final request for proposal for a new $3 billion program for buying information technology by Nov. 18, DHS officials said today.

The First Source RFP could arrive as early as today and no later than Nov. 18, said Daniel McLaughlin, director of DHS’ Information Technology Acquisition Center (ITAC).

DHS will accept submissions until Dec. 19 and award the contracts in February 2006, McLaughlin said.

He and IT officials from other federal departments gave their predictions for fiscal 2006 at the Input’s FedFocus 2006 conference in Washington, D.C.

First Source will be DHS’ vehicle for building a common IT architecture departmentwide, said Michael Smith, associate director of ITAC’s strategic initiatives branch.

First Source is designed to encourage small-business participation because it is designated for businesses with 150 employees or fewer.

It is one of two new procurement programs DHS has created to improve how it buys IT. The department introduced the other, the Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge solutions program for IT services, in August.