Interior starts the bidding for $500M IT services vehicle

The Interior Department is now ready for industry to start working on and submitting bids for a 10-year, $500 million IT services contract vehicle supporting its Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Proposals for the Information Technology Support Services contract are due no later than 9 a.m. Eastern time on March 14, Interior said in a Wednesday notice to release the final solicitation.

The contract is reserved for companies with the Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise designation.

BIA is using a two-stage, advisory-based down-select process to narrow the field down to between seven and 10 awards. Companies will be advised during stage one on whether or not they are likely to advance to stage two, but are free to take their chances regardless.

Stage one will focus solely on the technical aspects of proposals including past performance and competency. Stage two will involve evaluations of pricing volume and additional technical considerations, such as staffing and security approaches.

BIA says that non-price factors are "vastly more important than price" and "there will be no tradeoff" between them.

Some of the contract's key functional areas will include customer engagement, data and analytics, platforms, governance, IT management program support and non-traditional government service delivery.

This is a brand new requirement with no incumbent.

BIA is responsible for implementing laws and policies related to indigenous reservations, which are home to 574 federally-recognized tribes and about 2 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives.