9 contracts that changed how government buys tech

: Federal Aviation Administration: Awarded in 1981 to IBM Federal Systems.: This contract, which ran through 1994 and cost billions of dollars before it was canceled, was the poster child for why large information technology systems development contracts are so dangerous. The project called for IBM to modernize FAA’s air traffic control system in one big bang. But complexity and cost overruns doomed the project. Some believe the failure of the FAA project helped push procurement reforms later in the 1990s, which made many of the contracts on this list possible. : General Services Administration: Awarded in 1988 to AT&T and Sprint.: FTS2000 is arguably the first multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. AT&T owned the government telecommunications market at the time, and Sprint was largely unknown. The contract broke that mold as it drove down prices and opened the government to the concept of task-order competitions. : Air Force : Awarded in 1993 to GTSI and Zenith Data Systems, after a series of protests. : This contract streamlined how the Air Force bought hardware and proved that a large volume of PCs could be procured from multiple sources as part of an IDIQ contract. The new task-order process allowed the Air Force to buy as many or as few PCs as it needed. : Defense Information Systems Agency : Awarded in November 1993 to six companies. : This was one of the first multiple-award contracts unleashed on the market by the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act. It quickly exceeded its $1 billion ceiling, spawning DEIS II. The success continued as the contract grew and became Encore I and then Encore II, which DISA awarded in May 2008 with a $12 billion ceiling over 10 years. : GSA: The procurement reforms of the mid-1990s brought services to a schedule that was primarily hardware. The addition caused an explosion of business on Schedule 70. Even though sales have fallen slightly in recent years, Schedule 70 still does nearly $17 billion in annual sales. It became a must-have vehicle for companies that wanted to do business in the government. : National Institutes of Health : Awarded in September 1995 to 17 companies. : This governmentwide contract satisfied a demand for a vehicle that agencies could use to buy large quantities of hardware, software and related services. In two years, it ran through its $100 million ceiling. The follow-on contracts grew significantly. The current ECS III has 66 contractors and a $6 billion limit. It runs through 2012. : Transportation Department : Awarded in 1996 to 20 companies. : ITOP was the first multiple-award contract with a large number of contractors. But that didn’t deter users. In its first year and a half, it ran through its $1 billion ceiling. ITOP II, was the first large IDIQ with a small-business component, and its success led GSA to take over the contract from the Transportation Department. Launched in 1996, ITOP gave DOT and other agencies a single source for IT services from 20 contractor teams led by a mix of industry heavyweights, such as Computer Sciences Corp., Unisys Corp. and Science Applications International Corp., and smaller businesses, such as Signal Corp. : Navy : Awarded in 2000 to EDS.: The Navy and EDS took a gamble when the service outsourced its infrastructure to EDS. The $8.8 billion contract nearly sunk EDS because of the financial burden it placed on the company. But today, EDS uses it as a reference to win other work. The Navy decided it doesn’t want a single company to own its infrastructure, so with the compete, it likely will make multiple awards. : NASA : Awarded March 2007 to 38 companies.: The SEWP program has become a gold standard in the government for customer service, and the managers running the contract see both agencies and their contractors as customers. The focus on service has helped SEWP survive and thrive into its fourth generation.