TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT

Managers from the three agencies primarily responsible for governmentwide acquisition contracts on Thursday encouraged other agencies to take advantage of these setups, particularly for information technology purchases.

The managers -- representing NASA's Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement for technology products, the National Institutes of Health's Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) and the General Services Administration's numerous GWACs -- urged agencies not to develop their own contracts if a governmentwide arrangement would meet their needs.

"What we're battling every day is these [indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contracts] being created in other agencies and departments," said Marcelo Olasoaga, deputy director for GWAC programs at GSA, during the National Contract Management Association's annual conference in Bethesda, Md. "If you want a program that is being run right and reporting to [the Office of Management and Budget], Congress and the [Government Accountability Office], we're the ones you need to be going to."

SEWP program manager Joanne Woytek agreed, saying OMB performs hands-on oversight of the governmentwide contracts run by NIH, NASA and GSA. This is not necessarily true for multiple award contracts that other agencies manage, she said.

"We're the three agencies OMB watches over closely; we're not the ones GAO has issues with," Woytek said. "Their issues are with the ones that don't have that tracking and oversight. We've been doing this a long time."

According to NITAAC Deputy Program Director Robert Coen, using an existing contract also is much faster.

"We have efficiencies in place to fulfill requirements that can take six to nine months," he said. "But with a GWAC you can do these things so much easier. You don't have to get three bids... you'll get quotes back electronically within three days or less."

Another benefit is the decreased likelihood of bid protests under GWACs, Olasoaga said. In the past contractors weren't able to challenge these types of contracts. While that has changed, GWAC task and delivery orders are far less likely than other types of acquisition actions to end up in disputes, he said.

"We hold program management reviews quarterly and speak to awardees, and we tell them of the disadvantages of protests," Olasoaga said. "If it's necessary and they have to, it's their right and it's OK, but we work closely with industry and they are our partners. They understand that if they protest just because they didn't win and there is no good reason, it's not going to behoove them."

The relationships among awardees also make protests less likely, Olasoaga said. In many cases, even though companies compete against each other under the contract vehicle, they also frequently team up on proposals. Many companies understand that gratuitous protests would harm that collaborative relationship, he said. "It's almost like peer pressure for them not to do it," he noted.