Good morning All,
I am seeking input and opinions concerning a requirement to seek approval of OMB to issue multiagency contracts to provide commercial items of IT. Guidance from OMB (Memo 97-07) dated February 26, 1997 regarding Multiagency contracts under ITMRA of 1996 indicates that OMB may authorize an agency to enter into multiagency contracts for IT but does not address multiagency contracts for Contractor Advisory and Assistance Services (CAAS) which may include some IT services and support. It is my opinion that the OMB Guidance is not inclusive of CAAS - type contracts.Do you think that the ITMRA of 1996 included contracts where the services being acquired may include some IT support or are they exempt from the OMB guidance?

By cmiller on Tuesday, October 31, 2000 - 12:29 pm:

To add to the previously posted thread. It is my opinion that our requirements are a re-engineering of existing IT assets, ie. ADP support service management reviews, security reviews and technology refreshment/configuration reviews of IT assets. It is not our intent to buy any hardware or software under the contract.

By Stan Livingstone on Tuesday, October 31, 2000 - 12:46 pm:

My quick quess/opinion is you are covered by ITMRA. From what you indicated, it looks like IT. Why not ask OMB to be safe? A more basic question is why would you even want to do a multi-agency contract? It's a lot of work and unless there is some over-riding benefit, just do the contract for your own agency?

Stan

By John Ford on Tuesday, October 31, 2000 - 03:47 pm:

Mary, you do not need OMB approval to enter into a multi-agency contract. However, such contracts must be entered into under the guidance contained in OMB Policy Letter 97-07. An agency needs OMB designation to be considered an executive agency for acquisition of IT. Such a designation means other agencies must use contracts awarded by the executive agency. However, entering into a contract that other agencies can voluntarily use does not require OMB approval.

By cmiller on Wednesday, November 01, 2000 - 08:43 am:

Stan, John, We looked at OMB Policy letter 97-07 and came up with the following interpretation. The OMB guidance indicates commercial items - thus we interpreted this to mean hardware, software and firmware. I realize there are commercial IT services available, but interpreted our internal reviews and "re-engineering" efforts to be agency unique. As for awarding contracts strictly for our agency's use, it has been decided that we would award for multi-agency use. We have placed a call to the OMB and are awaiting a return call to discuss this issue, but I thought we might get some ideas through this website.
Thanks for your input and comments.

By Stan Livingstone on Wednesday, November 01, 2000 - 03:25 pm:

I guess the one question that comes to mind is will there be that much of government-wide demand if the services are specific for your agency? I've been involved in establishing governmentwide contracts before, and it is an awful lot of work. For starters, in order to get the best deal, you'll need to come up with estimates of use from everybody. It also adds a lot of work for your staff, so you might consider charging fees to recover some of your costs. If you're just trying to be of help to other agencies, you might do as John suggested and just include them optionally within the scope. There are just so many vehicles out there now for ordering IT services, unless you have something unique it won't be used much. Anyway, good luck!

Stan