Type: Law Bulletins
Date: 01/06/2014

Air Force Signs MOU to Use GSA OASIS Contracts: Anticipates Obligation of $500 Million

On Dec. 19, 2013, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) and the United States Air Force signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") detailing the Air Force’s intent to use the GSA’s One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (“OASIS”) contract vehicles for the acquisition of a wide array of professional services, both commercial and noncommercial.1  

According to the MOU, the Air Force “anticipates obligating in excess of $500,000,000.00 during the first” ordering period; this is “guaranteed to be a minimum of 18 months in duration.”2  

The solicitation describes OASIS as “a family of 7 separate Government-Wide Multiple Award, Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (MA-IDIQ) task order contracts.”3 There are two OASIS Solicitations: one for an unrestricted contract that includes 50% small business subcontracting goals and the other for a 100% small business set-aside. Each contract will have a five year base period with one five year option period. The OASIS Solicitations closed on Oct. 30, 2013, and awards are anticipated early this year.4  

According to the Solicitation, the professional services to be included fall under seven core disciplines (Program Management, Management Consulting, Scientific, Engineering, Logistics, and Financial) and span all life cycle phases from requirements analysis to operations and maintenance. The contracts will also span all mission types (communication, defense, etc.) and their ancillary support services and products.5

The Air Force’s stated goals from its use of OASIS are to:

  • Reduce excess costs associated with the award and administration of multiple IDIQ and/or standalone contracts.
  • Reduce the lead time and administrative efforts it currently takes agencies to acquire complex professional services.
  • Gain insight into spend volume and labor types and costs across the federal government and facilitate negotiation of lower pricing at the task order level.
  • Improve and reduce time associated with the task order proposal comparison process by creating “apples to apples” comparisons of proposed labor costs.
  • Eliminate the need for Task Order Contracting Officers to evaluate proposals from poor performers.

It remains to be seen whether the OASIS, which focuses exclusively on services, will be as popular as its earlier cousin the GSA Schedule to where there is a material difference (downward) in the number of Air Force service procurements on an annual basis. If this works for the Air Force, other agencies may follow suit, seeing this approach as the most expeditious and easiest method available.

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1Additional information and link to MOU available at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/183367; see also www.gsa.gov/oasis.
2Solicitation No. GS00Q-13-DR-0001 at 10, available at www.fbo.gov.
3Solicitation at 10.
4On Jan. 3, 2014, the GAO denied a protest by Aljucar Anvil-Incus & Co., in which the protester had challenged the GSA’s OASIS RFP as being unduly restrictive of competition. This clears the way for the procurement to proceed as scheduled.
5Solicitation at 18.

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