Upcoming contract opportunities worth more than $26.5 billion

Contractors are awaiting three major contracting competitions soon to be released from the Department of Health and Human Services, the General Services Administration and NASA.

All three solicitations are government-wide acquisition contracts — or GWACs — a type of multiple-award contract gaining increasing steam in federal contracting. These programs set preassigned terms and conditions and limit orders for specific projects to a restricted set of pre-qualified vendors, giving government agencies more control.

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These contracting programs can create a streamlined process and expedited awards. Winners also benefit from smaller competitions.

The three contracts soon to move forward offer $26.5 billion in potential federal IT and professional services dollars. Winning a place on one of these efforts can offer a great deal of potential business.

Here is a look at the soon-to-be-released GWACs:

Department of Health and Human Services’ Chief Information Officer Commodity Solutions

The CIO-CS contract, also known as the Electronic Commodities Store, will allow the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies to buy IT that is already in production.

Deltek estimates a solicitation release in March for the program, which is worth up to an estimated $6 billion over 10 years. The predecessor program included 42 companies.

General Services Administration’s One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services

OASIS is expected to include a range of professional services such as program management and consulting services, logistics services, financial services and professional engineering services.

The GSA has formed both unrestricted and small-business vehicles that will allow agencies to set aside task orders for direct award or limit competitions to specific kinds of small businesses.

The 10-year program is estimated to be worth $10 billion. The OASIS requirement is new and has no previous service providers. The government estimates a solicitation release during the summer; Deltek anticipates the solicitation in June.

NASA’s Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement V

Like previous SEWP contracts, the fifth version is expected to provide goods and services related to computers, high-performance servers and database servers, mass storage and network devices, advanced video and visualization solutions, computer support devices and security systems and tools, among others.

The government estimates a solicitation release in June.

While the program’s estimated value was originally $5.6 billion, Deltek now estimates — based on the spending trends of predecessor contracts — the newest version will be worth at least $10.5 billion.

Fifty-two companies provided services under SEWP IV.

Ashley Bergander is a research manager at Herndon-based Deltek, which conducts research on the government contracting market and can be found at www.deltek.com.