GSA opens VETS 2 IT services contract

The General Services Administration has opened its potential 10-year, $5 billion "VETS 2" IT services contract for business and is ready to accept task orders on the vehicle, GSA has confirmed to Washington Technology.

VETS 2 -- short for Veterans Technology Services 2 -- was awarded to 70 companies in October of last year but subsequently was the subject of protests by four disappointed bidders: Async-Nu Microsystems, IronArch Technology, Software Engineering Services Corp. and SysVets.

IronArch withdrew its protest from the Government Accountability Office docket on Dec. 29. GAO then denied Software Engineering Services' and SysVets' protests respectively on Feb. 13 and Feb. 16. Async-Nu Microsystems saw its protest dismissed March 9.

VETS 2 is the federal government's only governmentwide acquisition vehicle reserved exclusively for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses. It is the successor to the original VETS vehicle awarded in 2006 to 44 companies, also at a $5 billion ceiling over 10 years.

"Like its successful predecessor, VETS 2 provides agencies with access to customized IT solutions from a highly qualified pool of industry partners," said Kay Ely, assistant commissioner of the Office of Information Technology Category at GSA's Federal Acquisition Service.

"The original VETS contract helped participating SDVOSB businesses deliver $2.1 billion in services and solutions to the federal government. We’d like to match or exceed that on VETS 2."

Task orders will encompass areas such as data management, information and communications technology, IT operations and maintenance, software development, systems design, and new and emerging technologies.

GSA received 187 bids for VETS 2.