GSA issues RFQ for HSPD-12 replacement contract

The much-anticipated replacement contract for the General Services Administration's Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 managed-service office asks vendors to provide assistance to agencies in handing out smart cards and developing card management systems for at least 40 agencies and 420,000 federal employees.

The new request for quotes, which GSA issued late last week to the 18 qualified schedule holders, focuses more on technical and security requirements, requires companies to perform operational-capability demonstrations, and a full security certification and accreditation before they issue cards. GSA also plans to award the contract in time to help agencies issue more cards by October, said Steve Duncan, GSA's Access Certificate for E-Services program manager.

Duncan spoke yesterday at the monthly Interagency Smart Card Advisory Board meeting in Washington.

The 141-page RFQ details the improved approach GSA is taking for this contract as compared to the original contract, which it rushed out the door last summer, industry experts said.

"GSA seems to be doing it the right way this time," said Jeremy Grant, a senior vice president and emerging technologies analyst for the Stanford Washington Research Group of Washington and a former executive with Multimax. "They seem to acknowledge they were hasty the first time and now they learned a few things and will be smarter."

GSA awarded BearingPoint Inc. of McLean, Va., a five-year, $104 million deal in August to run its managed-services office. BearingPoint helped GSA and agencies meet the initial Oct. 27 deadline to set up the infrastructure to issue cards. GSA then decided to cancel BearingPoint's contract and recompete it in order to get more competition and better prices. BearingPoint's contract was set to expire Jan. 7, but GSA extended it because of the delay in issuing the new contract.

The likely teams bidding on the new contract include Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics, BearingPoint, IBM, and EDS and Northrop Grumman Corp., Grant said.

Lockheed, EDS and Xtec Inc. of Miami, another likely bidder, protested GSA's initial award to BearingPoint. GSA cancelled the contract before the Government Accountability Office could make a decision.

In the new RFQ, GSA is asking vendors to provide an end-to-end system for enrollment, identity management, card management, card production, card issuance and activation.

The vendor will support 225 permanent enrollment and card activation stations, and 25 mobile enrollment and activation stations, the RFQ said.

GSA also wants the vendor to provide maintenance for existing HSPD-12 systems, the document said.

The winning vendor will have 30 days after the award to set up initial functionality and be at full production in 90 days, the RFQ said. The contractor must deploy at least 50 enrollment stations per month starting Sept. 30.

Proposals are due Feb. 2, and GSA expects to spend the next month evaluating vendor demonstration of their systems, Duncan said.

In other news, GSA seeks information on behalf of the Treasury Department about what industry can provide for integration support for personal-identity-verification (PIV) cards under HSPD-12.

The contractor will design, test, deploy and maintain the PIV product and services, procure all its components, develop installation packages of hardware and software, and support operations and maintenance of the deployed system, GSA said in its request for information.

Jason Miller is assistant managing editor of Washington Technology's affiliate publication, Government Computer News. GCN writer Mary Mosquera contributed to this story.