“The General Services Administration (GSA) recently released a draft request for proposals (RFP) for the Polaris IDIQ procurement, which spans a wide variety of IT services. This up-to-10-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract (five years base, with a five-year option period) is a significant opportunity for a variety of small businesses. GSA plans to issue three pools of awards, including ones specifically for HUBZone and Women-Owned small businesses. This is the unofficial replacement for Alliance Small Business 2, which failed to proceed after a number of sustained protests…”
“In what areas should you expect to earn points?
The biggest point-earning opportunities will likely relate to experience and past performance. The applicable projects can be for pretty much any customer, both federal and commercial, but there will likely be more points for projects with multiple federal clients. The more complex the project, the higher the likelihood that you will receive more points. If the experience was within a cost-plus contract instead of fixed-price, there will likely be more points for that as well. There will likely be additional points for a wider variety and separate instances of recent projects within each performance area, and even more points if emerging technology was used in these projects…”
“What about CMMC and other RFP requirements?
The draft RFP for Polaris dedicates a whole section to “IT Security Considerations” (Section H.5) that does not name any specific requirements. Instead, it instructs offerors to pay close attention to the latest Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and supply chain risk management (SCRM) requirements. It acknowledges that civilian agencies have not yet adopted CMMC but suggests that it may be included as a requirement for future task orders under this IDIQ. It also then includes instructive exemplar items for contractors to monitor with regards to cybersecurity and SCRM…” Read the full article here.
Source: Start preparing now to earn points on GSA’s Polaris contract opportunity – By Jeff Shapiro, Bhavesh Vadhani, January 19, 2021. CohnReznick.
