All Three of NITAAC’s Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts Are Now Best in Class

NITAAC recently announced that its CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business GWACs have both been designated as Best in Class (BIC) contracting vehicles, following CIO-CS which was designated in December 2017. This news means that all three NITAAC Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) have been proven to use leading acquisition best practices that will benefit their agency customers.

These new BIC designations will be retroactive for FY2018.  So, any NITAAC customers who leveraged the CIO-SP3 or CIO-SP3 Small Business vehicles in FY18 will receive credit for utilizing a BIC vehicle and increasing spend under management (SUM). Increasing SUM will eliminate redundancies, increase efficiencies and deliver more value and savings.

As Best in Class vehicles, CIO-CS, CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business meet rigorous category management performance criteria, designed to save agencies time and money. As part of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) designation process, NITAAC Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) were evaluated against the following criteria:

• rigorous requirements definitions and planning processes;
• appropriate pricing strategies;
• data-driven strategies to change buying and consumption behavior (i.e., demand management);
• implementation of category and performance management strategies; and
• independently validated reviews

Best in Class contracting vehicles are core to the government’s ongoing Category Management and government reform efforts. They have been recently highlighted as part of the administration’s wider Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government and Reducing the Federal Civilian Workforce, outlined in a memorandum dated April 12, 2017.  In the memo, OMB Director Mick Mulvaney cites BIC Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) as primary instruments for saving agencies money, reducing duplicative and wasteful contracting actions and procurements, and expediting the acquisition of modernized IT.

Every year the federal government spends billions of dollars through thousands upon thousands of individual transactions. Unfortunately, historically these efforts have been largely fragmented and inefficient, often resulting in agencies overpaying for goods and services, and conducting redundant procurements. Category management provides a pathway for agencies to move toward the use of Best in Class sourcing solutions, application of better buying strategies that leverage the collective buying power of the government, and more effective vendor engagement.

With CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business being added to the roster of federal Best in Class contract vehicles, NITAAC is proud to be doing its part to make the government operate in a more deliberate, cohesive fashion as agencies move to meet the reform goals laid out by the White House.