FCW Insider: Oct. 2

The General Services Administration tapped 12 vendors and issued about $240 million in task orders on its internal IT modernization vehicle COMET -- short for CIO Modernization and Enterprise Transformation. The blanket purchase agreement covers IT in support of Federal Acquisition Service programs. Mark Rockwell and Ross Wilkers have the story.

A recent study found that if top executives won't get personally involved in backing major IT projects, they're not likely to work. Steve Kelman explains why absent senior level buy-in, tech leaders might rethink big IT transformation efforts.

The end of the fiscal year saw continued growth at governmentwide acquisition contracts at NASA, the General Services Administration and National Institutes of Health, according to managers. Mark has more.

Homeland Security CIO John Zangardi is looking at making the huge St. Elizabeth's agency campus in Washington, D.C., ready for 5G. Mark reports.

Quick Hits

*** The General Services Administration issued the solicitation for its consolidated schedule on Oct. 1, completing the first phase of its effort to combine two dozen product schedules into a single one for products, services and solutions.

GSA officials had set Oct. 1 as the deadline to issue the solicitation, saying in the summer they were on track to meet it.

The agency said that only new contracts would be on the consolidated schedule until next year, when the mass modification for contractors already on the schedules will commence. Federal agencies shouldn't see any disruptions in their buying practices, despite the changes, it said.

GSA organized the new solicitation by large categories and subcategories, implemented a simplified format and streamlined terms and conditions and special item numbers to make it easier to use for contractors as well as federal buyers.

*** The National Background Investigations Bureau is now officially operating as part of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Senior DOD officials told reporters during an Oct. 1 briefing that the handoff was complete as of Sept. 30 with nearly 3,000 NBIB employees transferred from the Office of Personnel Management to the Department of Defense. All investigations and supporting contracts have also been moved. With the switch complete, senior DOD officials said the agency plans to winnow the clearance backlog from its current level of more than 302,000 to around 200,000 by Jan. 1, 2020.

*** The Army announced three winners in its enterprise IT-as-a-service procurement on Sept. 27. The awards, made under "other transaction" authority, cover three pilots to test the viability of contractor-owned, contractor-operated network functionality on government sites. Microsoft won an $18.2 million award, Verizon won $9.8 million and AT&T $5.6 million.