DHA starts 'Reboot' for planned application development contract

After a roughly seven-month lull in proceedings, the Defense Health Agency appears to be renewing its push to stand up a new multiple-award contract vehicle for application development.

Over the course of November and December, DHA has issued a series of sources sought notices that add the word "Reboot" to the end of what it has been calling the Development Multiple-Award Contract 2.0.

Prior to those notices, DHA's last announcements of substance on DevMAC 2.0 came in April. DHA at the time unveiled a series of sample work areas and asked for initial industry feedback on the plan.

DHA's most recent requests for information indicate that it has further reduced the scope for the reboot, which signals a lower ceiling value than the $700 million amount given in the spring. One reduction in scope already happened when DHA simply called the effort DevMAC, without the numeral nor word "Reboot."

In starting up the Reboot phase, DHA's most recent notices issued Monday ask for comment on the intended evaluation criteria with a responses due date of Jan. 5.

The agency is specifically asking how industry can demonstrate effective internal and external communication, as well as how certain products can contribute to a positive user experience.

DHA's goals for the product lines include access to a flexible talent pool that can evolve how software development projects get done, build teams that can work in a modular fashion with crowdsourcing, and reduce barriers to new industry entrants.

DevMac 2.0 Reboot does not currently have an anticipated date of release for the draft request for proposals.