GSA to push back RFP for Networx replacement

EDITOR'S NOTE: A version of this article first appeared on FCW.com.

The General Services Administration won't make its hoped for July release of the solicitation for the $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract.

The contract will replace GSA's Networx vehicles and is the backbone of the government's Network Services 2020 strategy for telecommunications services.

A a top agency official managing the effort said more time is likely to be needed as his team gathers input from industry and other interested parties.

Amando Gavino Jr., director of GSA's Office of Network Services Programs, told FCW in an interview before a Professional Services Council industry forum in Arlington, Va., on May 21 that his team is digesting 1,600 comments from vendors and government agencies interested EIS contract.

The complex RFP, Gavino told FCW, "has to be released by this fiscal year, no later than September." Last month, Gavino left the door open to pushing back the EIS RFP's July release date.

That is looking even more likely now. "We will still be seeing people until the end of June," Gavino said. "I can't say 'we're taking your comments and then three weeks later get out the RFP. That's not going to happen," he said. He said that a longer time frame on the RFP wouldn't affect the award of the contract, however. GSA has targeted EIS contract award notifications for January 2017.

Several industry sources speculated that release of the RFP would probably edge closer to the end of September, to allow maximum time for input and analysis.

Gavino has been taking a diligent approach to gathering input, including ongoing one-on-one meetings with potential vendors and forums like the PSC event. In April, GSA unveiled the NS2020 community on its Interact website to facilitate more collaboration.

The May 21 PSC forum, which drew a slew of GSA officials, examined NS2020 and another big GSA IT procurement initiative, the Alliant 2 government wide acquisition contracting vehicle. The event was closed to the press, PSC officials said, to allow a freer discussion of both efforts and how they might interact or align with one another.

GSA still has two open public meetings on EIS scheduled at its headquarters on May 28 and June 30.