The General Services Administration is expecting to issue a solicitation for the Polaris IT governmentwide acquisition contract by Dec. 21.
Speaking at a digital workshop for prospective contractors Wednesday, senior General Services Administration (GSA) contracting officer James Mitchell outlined the expected timeline and launch of the contract later this year. “For the release of the solicitation, we are targeting late fall. Since this is Polaris, we are following the astronomical calendar definition of fall, which would be Dec. 21,” Mitchell said.
Following the release of the solicitation, GSA expects that proposals for the contract will then be due within 40 to 60 days.
News of the expected timeline comes after GSA last month issued an updated draft of sections L and M of the request for proposals, which included clarifications across a range of areas including how teaming arrangements will be viewed as part of the procurement.
Speaking at the workshop on Wednesday, senior procurement leaders including Sonny Hashmi, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA, emphasized Polaris’ focus on opportunities for small businesses and on furthering the Biden administration’s equity and inclusion agenda.
Polaris is a small business set-aside, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with a five-year horizon. It has no set ceiling and is comprised of four pools: unrestricted small businesses, HUBZone businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and women-owned small businesses.
The General Service Administration’s (GSA) Polaris Small Business GWAC is replacing Alliant 2 Small Business. Polaris is focused on providing all federal government agencies and other eligible entities with modern technologies, such as leveraging artificial intelligence tools, blockchain and “Everything as a Service.” Is your company positioned and on a team with a solid strategy to compete for your share of Polaris’ estimated $15B-$20B ceiling?
Link to https://www.fedscoop.com/gsa-expects-to-issue-polaris-solicitation-by-dec-21/