The General Services Administration is looking to drive digital transformation with a solutions architecture governed by agile enterprise practices and to transition from prioritizing systems to business capabilities, with the help of industry.
The agency introduced the CIO Modernization and Enterprise Transformation contract in July as the CIO Application Maintenance, Enhancements, and Operations (CAMEO) Re-Compete Effort. Now known as COMET, the original request for information released in November was updated in December, and GSA has since reviewed all RFIs.
And as part of GSA’s desire to continue evolving the Federal Acquisition Service IT’s agile and DevOps maturity, it’s specifically looking for vendors with “effective use of agile and DevOps practices,” with an emphasis on lean, agile and value-driven development.
The update in December provided the two COMET Performance Work Statements. One is COMET Architecture, Engineering and Advisory support, and the other is COMET App Maintenance, Enhancement and Transformation Services blanket purchase agreement.
The most recent informational update from Jan. 18 reaffirmed that COMET planning is still underway in 2019. After reviewing all RFIs, GSA’s next steps are to develop the BPA Offeror Instructions and Evaluation Criteria and release a draft version of each on FedBizOpps. GSA will then conduct industry engagement with one-on-ones and industry days after vendors review the BPA.
According to the FedBizOpps, a single award will be given for the architecture PWS under a GSA Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts, and Blanket Purchase Agreement awards will be made under the GSA IT-70 Schedule for the app maintenance PWS (a single company can’t bid on both proposals.)
Through the COMET awards, GSA hopes to achieve four major objectives by leveraging industry: transformation, efficiencies, flexibility and innovation.
Specifically, GSA is looking for a “unified transformation vision and approach” aligned with a defined solutions architecture governed with GSA Enterprise Architecture. The EA is a planning practice to carry out strategic goals with a team focused on maintaining GSA’s current and future architects, implementing IT policy and developing GSA’s IT service strategy, design and transitions.
GSA also wants to focus on digital transformation rather than reusing siloed applications, and empowering FAS to be a more competitive, innovative digital acquisition platform.
These transformations can help GSA leverage new tools and techniques, deliver microservices that can reduce redundancies in development and cost. COMET can also set the foundation for how GSA intends to operate in the future.
