DHS is getting ready to issue its formal solicitation for the second wave of contracts under its Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions II, or EAGLE II, program under which it will procure IT support services, under separate source selection procedures, from large and small businesses.
The department says it expects to issue the solicitation on or about October 1.
Under the original EAGLE procurement, DHS made 28 awards specifically to small businesses and 25 other awards under what it called the “unrestricted track.” DHS has not indicated how many awards it plans to make in each group this time around, but indicated that it was satisfied with the numbers during the original round and considered EAGLE I to be a “manageable and beneficial program.”
EAGLE II will provide IT support services in three “functional service categories”:
Category 1 – Service Delivery – in support of developing, implementing and maintaining technology across the entire lifecycle of a program;
Category 2 – Program Support Services – which will provide a full range of business and technical management services to support DHS offices or programs;
Category 3 – Independent Test, Validation, Verification and Evaluation – to ensure that all IT products and services meet DHS standards.
“The EAGLE II solicitation will include two separate and distinct source selections, one unrestricted and one set-aside for small business,” explains a presolicitation notice published by the DHS office of the chief procurement officer on July 19.
Under the small business set-aside portion of the awards, categories will be handled differently. Under category 1, for Service Delivery, there will be distinct set-asides for 8(a), HUBZone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, and regular small business. Under categories 2 and 3, there will simply be a set-aside for small business.
“Vendors may propose on one, any or all of the functional service categories but are strongly encouraged to submit only one proposal, focusing on the category and the track in which it is most qualified,” says the presolicitation notice.
DHS says the term of the EAGLE II contract will be a five-year base period, plus one two-year option.
EAGLE II will be a multiple award “indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity” contract. Task orders (TOs) that will be permitted will include Cost Reimbursement, Time & Materials, Labor-Hour and Firm Fixed Price, says the presolicitation notice. However, Blanket Purchase Agreements and Letter Contracts will not be permitted task order types.
The department will try to retain the best of EAGLE I, while tweaking its procedures in pursuit of optimum results.
“With EAGLE II, DHS will refresh and update the current EAGLE program and will incorporate lessons learned from the previous four years,” says the notice.
Full article By Jacob Goodwin, GSN Magazine
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