GSA starts to move on Air Force IT recompete
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By
Ross Wilkers
The General Services Administration's first notice to industry on what it is calling "2GIT Reimagined" asks about who is an original equipment manufacturer and their sales approaches.
The General Services Administration has started to construct the next iteration of Second Generation Information Technology, a blanket purchase agreement primarily geared toward the Air Force but also open to other parts of government.
First opened for orders in 2021, 2GIT is set up as a government-wide avenue for buying commercial-off-the-shelf IT hardware and software. Agencies can also place orders for ancillary services through 2GIT, which has 86 companies as primes.
GSA’s release of a sources sought notice Monday, along with an accompanying questionnaire, marks the start of its process for the follow-on currently being called 2GIT Reimagined.
Like the current iteration, 2GIT Reimagined will be the Air Force’s mandatory mechanism for making COTS IT purchases. Other defense and civilian agencies can use the BPA as well.
GSA’s questionnaire for industry asks whether the respondent is an IT product original equipment manufacturer and if the company can support a direct sales model.
At the moment, GSA’s OneGov initiative for centralized IT purchases only includes agreements with software providers. But the agency plans to eventually incorporate hardware into the strategy, along with platform and infrastructure offerings.
2GIT Reimagined also will have tighter requirements for cybersecurity and supply chain risk management, which the questionnaire refers to as C-SCRM. Respondents are also being asked whether they hold a Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification or are planning to get one.
CMMC of course refers to the Defense Department’s new cyber and supply chain security standard for its entire industrial base, both prime contractors and their subs.
Responses to the request for information are due Aug. 22. GSA is working to release a request for quotations in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.
The current 2GIT BPA has seen approximately $1.1 billion in order volume flow through it to-date, or roughly 20% of the $5.5 billion ceiling. Deltek data identifies the top five recipients as FCN, World Wide Technology, Sterling Computers, Paragon Micro and New Tech Solutions Inc.