FEMA's $249M IT contract draws plenty of questions

The Federal Emergency Management Agency got more than it asked for when it requested comments on a draft solicitation for its four-year, $249 million IT management indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract.

The volume caught the agency off guard and it has said that it needs more time to respond to the comments. It expects to release responses at the end of March.

FEMA released a draft solicitation in February for its IT Program Management Office (IT PMO) Pillar IDIQ. The IDIQ is a single-award, 8(a) small business set-aside contract.

Officials have not given a date for when they plan to release a final solicitation.

As of now, FEMA plans to use IT PMO Pillar IDIQ to have a company assisting its CIO’s office with establishing and maturing IT management practices.

The IDIQ has 18 task areas:

• Contract program management
• Project and program management support
• Project management office support
• IT capital planning and portfolio management support
• IT strategic planning and enterprise architecture support
• Business process reengineering support
• Business and system requirements management support
• Policy management support
• IT budget, financial and cost management support
• Transition and technical management support
• Training support
• Communication and knowledge management support
• Vendor management
• Tool analysis and support
• Customer service and relationship management
• Website support
• Independent assessment
• Transition out

The task areas vary and are distinct, but FEMA intends to have them carried out as an overarching program.