GSA planning cloud computing IDIQ

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article first appeared on FCW.com.

Vendors have told the General Services Administration they'd like to see the agency's expired infrastructure-as-a-service contract be replaced with a indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity vehicle for cloud, according to a top GSA IT contracting official.

In a Jan. 22 blog post, Mary Davie, assistant commissioner in GSA's Office of Integrated Technology Services, said that almost three-fourths of the responses to the Cloud Computing Services Program Management Office's February 2015 request for information about a future cloud contract vehicle indicated a preference for an IDIQ.

The future contract, Davie said, will serve as a single procurement source for all things cloud, with flexibility so as to incorporate valuable cloud services and technologies that emerge over its lifecycle.

Vendors also said common barriers to cloud sales include security requirements, inflexible pricing structures and long procurement delays.

According to Davie, the RFI respondents also cited a need for on-demand ordering capabilities using a common ordering number for cloud services, as well as the need to make changes to keep up with evolving cloud technologies and services.

Stan Kaczmarczyk, the Office of Integrated Technology Services' director of cloud computing services, said at a Jan. 21 AFFIRM panel on cloud issues that he had concluded a second meeting of a working group convened to incorporate industry insights for a "true cloud" blanket purchasing agreement. He said GSA is working towards a draft request for proposals for a cloud computing IDIQ by the end of fiscal 2016.

On Jan. 6, the GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies also issued an RFI to explore the feasibility of creating a program that would help agencies transition to cloud computing technologies and services.

Kaczmarczyk said the two efforts aren't necessarily related. The OCSIT effort emanates from a more policy-oriented point of view and focuses on FedRAMP, while the ITS inquiry is looking to specifics that might be included in a future contracting vehicle.

Kaczmarczyk will be a featured speaker at Washington Technology's GSA Industry Day on Feb. 10. Click here for more details.