DHS gets moving on awards for $10B commodity IT contract
Gettyimages.com / Carol Yepes
By
Ross Wilkers
Block one involves who the Homeland Security Department has chosen for the value-added reseller category of FirstSource III.
The Homeland Security Department has started to move on awards for the recompete of its $10 billion commodity IT contract vehicle of choice, after a long pre-award protest cycle and long evaluation process.
DHS uses the FirstSource program to buy hardware, software and related services from small businesses. The new FirstSource III contract has winners across several types of small businesses based on socioeconomic distinction, along with general SBs.
On Tuesday, DHS revealed its choices for the functional category involving value-added resellers with awards still pending for the software-focused track.
The list of ITVAR category winners is available here. Work will take place under an initial five-year base period, which could be followed by a three-year option and another two-year option after that.
FirstSource III saw bidders go through a two-phase downselect in pursuit of an award, where DHS would tell companies of their odds to be chosen for a position after phase one. Companies were free to take their chances if they did not agree, however.
The current FirstSource II contract has been a busy one for DHS since it was first awarded in 2012 at an approximate $3 billion ceiling. DHS has over time doubled that ceiling to $6.3 billion and obligated $6 billion in delivery orders over the past 12 years, according to GovTribe data.
FirstSource II’s last date to order is Sept. 30.