“Let’s get the jokes about the General Services Administration’s working title of its new services governmentwide acquisition contract out of the way. Today it’s known as a BIC MAC—Best-in-Class Multiple Award Contract.
Go ahead have some fun…”
“Whatever name GSA eventually comes up with that is not BIC MAC, the new approach to services contracting aims to shake things up in a way the federal contacting community hasn’t seen in at least five years.
GSA released the first of at least two requests for information on March 2 seeking industry feedback on some of the basic ideas around the contract like socioeconomic reserves, the initial list of functional domain areas, contract structure and much more. Responses to the 27-page survey are due March 17.
Jill Akridge, the director for Customer Account Management for the Office of Professional Services and Human Capital Categories (PSHC), an office within GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), said at a recent ACT-IAC webinar that the goal is to reduce friction in the services market and possible consolidate existing services contracts like the Human Capital and Training Solutions (HCATS) and the Building Maintenance and Operations vehicle to make it easier for customers…”
“GSA’s Akridge said there are some specific differences between this new vehicle and the schedules, including the initial requirements for vendors to earn a spot on BIC MAC.
‘There’s capabilities that we can’t do on schedules and we tried to get authorities for it that we know are needed in the world of services like cost-type contracting, non-commercial services and unpriced aspect,’ she said. ‘There are scope areas that schedules don’t cover as well today. We want to set this up in a way that thinks through contracting from purely a services perspective. Schedules is designed in a way that also has to accommodate products so it has some rules in there that maybe aren’t the best for services acquisitions.’…” Read the full article here.
Source: GSA kicks off two-year effort to innovate service contracting beyond OASIS – By Jason Miller, March 9, 2021. Federal News Network.
