NetCents portal goes down, transparency goes up

The Air Force’s portal for its NetCents 2 Products contract apparently is having some technical issues and the service announced today that solicitations for so-called fair opportunities will be pushed out via FedBizOpps.gov.

Also known as FBO.gov, the website is commonly used by agencies to issues solicitations with one big exception -- IDIQ contracts. Often these multiple-award contracts have their own portals and solicitations go out only to contract holders.

This lack of visibility has long been a sore spot for me because it is hard to track what the government buying and who is winning with much consistency. And some of these task orders can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

There needs to be some sort of sunlight on these task orders especially as more and more business flows through these IDIQ contracts.

It makes sense from a taxpayer and government accountability perspective. But it also limits visibility for other companies looking for opportunities.

OK, off my soap box.

The FBO notice that triggered this post is for software licenses for the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Squadron Operations Center. The contract is being managed out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

The Air Force is looking for a Veritas Backup Exec Bundle and VMware vCenter Server 6 and vSphere 6 Production Support/Subscription. They also need mIRC software, which is an Internet Relay Chat client that enables chat, file sharing and other collaboration.

Proposals are due Dec. 27 and an award is scheduled for Dec. 31. It is being competed as lowest price, technically acceptable contract.

As part of the notice that the portal is having technical difficulties, the Air Force also announced that Lt. Col. Brian Miller has been appointed ombudsman to field contractor complaints, disagreements and other related items. He doesn’t develop solicitations, the Air Force pointed out. Any questions on solicitations should go to the contact listed and then to Miller.