The Decade’s Biggest IT Contract Is Out for Bid

The Alliant 2 and Alliant 2 Small Business contracts collectively represent the largest IT opportunity of the decade, and both went out to bid June 24.

The final requests for proposal were released by the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, with deadlines for submissions set for Aug. 29.

Alliant 2 is the successor to the Alliant governmentwide contracting vehicle through which agencies have spent $24 billion on IT services. It’s also an innovative GWAC, with an emphasis on past performance that could both minimize bid protests and increase the return on investment of taxpayer dollars.

"These next-gen Alliant vehicles have great potential to provide agencies with new IT offerings, expanded scope and flexible options while driving down costs for the American taxpayer," Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for GSA’s Office of Integrated Technology Services, said in a statement.

Federal contracting analysts expect Alliant 2 to have a major impact across government, not only because it’ll be one of the major vehicles through which IT services are procured, but also because of the precedent its data-driven nature may set.

“It’s less subjective,” Arun Sankaran, managing director at Govini, said at an event hosted by Defense One and Nextgov last week. And being less subjective should make it less likely for companies to protest awards.

Sankaran also said the Defense Department’s influence on Alliant 2 is unmistakable, especially in regards to product service codes. In one example, the Defense Health Agency opted to partner with GSA to satisfy its health information technology requirements rather than unload an individual contract for it.

Nonetheless, expect many of the Beltway’s “usual suspects,” according to Brian Friel, founder of One Nation Analytics, “because Alliant 2 rewards companies with lots of experience.” Small business “teaming,” he said, will also be allowed, which should have many small businesses “calling each other up.”

Finally, Alliant 2 will also allow for a slew of emerging technologies – some of which might be only concepts now.

“We’re seeing contract vehicles with longer lifespans, which sets the stage for what we’ll see in the foreseeable future,” said Kyra Fussell, principal research analyst at Deltek.