Jane Edwards
A new study by Deltek says the value of fixed-price contracts used by federal agencies to procure information technology platforms and services rose from $43.5 billion in fiscal year 2014 to $44.9 billion in FY 2015, driven by IT professional services.
Deltek said Friday task orders accounted for approximately 40 percent of federal IT contract spending in FY 2015.
The company analyzed more than 800,000 contracts and policies related to IT contract awards between FY 2013 and FY 2015 and found that agencies have formed strategies to diversify their pool of vendors through an increase in the number of contract awards or provision of on-ramping opportunities.
The report also showed that agencies spent $7 billion on small business, set-aside IT task orders in FY 2015 and at least 73 percent of FY 2015 task orders were valued at $250,000 or less.
“The relatively small value of most task orders – $250,000 or less – has made it somewhat easier for small businesses to compete on those contracts,†said Deniece Peterson, director of research at Deltek.
Peterson added that the percentage of small businesses that secured IT-related task orders increased from 29 percent in FY 2013 to 36 percent in FY 2015.
Deltek also found that the IT acquisition cycle dropped from 168 days in FY 2013 to 117 days in FY 2015 due to the adoption of the lowest price technically acceptable process and implementation of industry outreach programs launched by the General Services Administration and other agencies.
