Keith Johnson: NITAAC Wants CIO-SP4 IT Contract to Provide More Opportunities for Small Businesses

The Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners 3 governmentwide acquisition contract, which has unrestricted and small business tracks, is set to expire in May 2022 and the National Institute of Health’s Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center plans to move the potential $40B CIO-SP4 contract for IT products and services to one GWAC to offer more opportunities to small businesses, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

"What we have witnessed throughout the performance of the contract, when an agency decides to use NITAAC, the contracting officer at the task order level may decide to use the unrestricted GWAC, for whatever reason. … So when a requirement is placed against the unrestricted GWAC, the small business contract holders can’t see or participate in that opportunity,” said Keith Johnson, contracting lead for CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP4 vehicles at NITAAC. “So the thought is, if we combine the two, it would, in fact, give small businesses the opportunity at least to see and compete for those requirements that otherwise would’ve gone to the unrestricted GWAC.”

Johnson said the other proposed changes in the draft solicitation for CIO-SP4 seek to address new technologies and processes and provide an opportunity to set aside task orders for women-owned businesses and other socioeconomic categories.

He added that NITAAC expects to issue the final request for proposals for CIO-SP4 in late November or early December.

There are 52 companies on the unrestricted track of CIO-SP3 and 358 vendors on the small business portion. Each track has a ceiling value of $20B.