The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced to the several companies and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that it has cancelled its $1.5 billion contract vehicle for agile development services.
DHS will no longer move forward with the small business procurement process known as Flexible Agile Support for the Homeland (FLASH,) reported Federal News Radio. They report that the news was confirmed by multiple industry sources.
As for FLASH, it is unclear whether DHS will give up on a separate contract vehicle and rely on EAGLE II or try again with a new procurement.
“The goal of FLASH was to give department components access to innovative methods and industry best practices to acquire agile design and development support services,” reports Federal News Radio.
In its solicitation, DHS said it was looking to develop an acquisition contract that includes concepts like user-centered design, dev/ops, automated testing and agile.
FLASH was awarded to 13 companies in November, but it faced trouble almost immediately. Eight vendors that didn™t make the cut protested to GAO. Instead of letting GAO handle the protests, DHS decided to reopen bidding.
DHS has been working on the multiple award vehicle for several months, reports Federal News Radio. When in early March DHS announced 11 new winners under the FLASH contract, 12 unsuccessful bidders again protested to GAO.
Other Federal agencies have similarly struggled to develop contract vehicles for buying agile services. The General Services Administration’s 18F ultimated cancelled second and third contracts under its agile blanket purchase agreement, after struggling to award the first round. 18F was awarded to 16 vendors in August 2015.
