Questions surround $10B OASIS contract

Questions about how the $10 billion OASIS contract will work as a strategic sourcing vehicle continue to be raised.

A shortened business case for the $10 billion One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services has done little to calm concerns about how the huge contract will work.

FCW reports that contracting experts are still unsure how GSA can consolidate services acquisitions into large enough buys to make strategic sourcing work -- one of OASIS's top goals.

The President's Management Advisory Board plans to meet Feb. 22 to discuss what's ahead in 2013 and hear reports from officials on adopting the board’s previous recommendations, such as broadening strategic sourcing. Professional services may be too complex for a strategic sourcing approach.

“Driving people to these cost structures would have a union-like look to it,” and people have walked away from the federal market if they feel too squeezed in, said Dale Luddeke, senior vice president and chief growth officer at TASC Inc. “People will begin to look for other things to do if they are somehow forced into a labor rate when they know they can get paid better someplace else.”

Luddeke was one of several speakers who expressed skepticism about the contract at a strategic sourcing event in late Janaury sponsored by the Professional Services Council, the Coalition for Government Procurement, TechAmerica and ACT/IAC.