The General Services Administration has issued requests for proposals for small business and women-owned small business pools of the Polaris governmentwide acquisition contract for information technology products and services.
The Polaris GWAC small business and WOSB pools are multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts meant to provide customized IT services across emerging technology areas, including artificial intelligence, advanced and quantum computing, automation technology, edge computing, distributed ledger technology and immersive technology, GSA said Friday.
The two pools cover several performance areas such as cloud services, cybersecurity, data management, information and communications technologies, IT operations and maintenance, software development and system design.
GSA intends to promote competition by moving pricing negotiations from the contract level to the task order level and plans to issue the HUBZone and service-disabled veteran-owned small business pools before the end of fiscal year 2022.
āThe staggered approach to the pools allows us to more quickly provide the federal marketplace with access to key industry segments for which there is procurement set-aside authority and provide equitable business opportunities for historically underserved and marginalized small businesses, while supporting customer agencies and their small business program goals,ā said Sonny Hashmi, commissioner of GSAās Federal Acquisition Service and a previous Wash100 Award winner.
GSA said Polarisā key features include expanded opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses to participate; regular on-ramps; award of the GWAC without a contract ceiling; and a technical refresh clause that can be activated to meet customersā needs.
Polaris backs a January 2021 executive order that promotes racial equity for underserved communities
GSA will accept proposals for both pools through May 13.
