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The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday released a draft scope for its forthcoming multi-award contract for small business to provide a range of information technology (IT) products and services, although unlike a notice the department provided last August the latest announcement doesn’t say when the solicitation will be issued.
Last August in a letter to industry partners, DHS Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa said that the solicitation for the FirstSource III contract would be released in the January 2020 timeframe. The May 19 letter to industry says that a draft requirements document and evaluation factors will be issued on or before June 29 and be followed by an industry day in late July. Industry comments will be due in early August.
Under FirstSource III, DHS components and offices will acquire products and services in three areas. First are IT commodities and related operations and maintenance services. Second are IT services for delivery, configuration, installation and training related to the purchased commodities. And, finally, DHS will also use the contract vehicle for managed services for IT commodities.
The solicitation will be a small business set aside with five different small business tracks.
DHS awarded the FirstSource II contract vehicle in 2012.
“This has facilitated establishing a functionally integrated, centrally coordinating IT infrastructure, and ensuring compatibility within ‘One Network’ and ‘One Infrastructure,’” DHS says in the draft scope. It adds that “With FirstSource III, DHS intends to continue its efforts to standardize commodities and the procurement processes to further reduce acquisition lead-times and include managed services. Furthermore, DHS will add or remove standardized configurations as necessary to adapt to changing agency needs and market trends, such as the increased use of tablets and the transition from traditional computing to virtual infrastructure.”
