This solicitation is also known as FBI IT Triple S Proposal. 

Guest Writer: Ken Blair —

It’s time for us to follow the FBI ITECS solicitation to see where the bouncing ball goes next. As shown in the background discussion below, this one, under the previous moniker of FBI IT Triple S, has a complicated history.

FBI ITECS Background

The history of this solicitation goes back to 2017 with the expiration of task orders against the previous contract. A lot of internal discussion was held in the FBI to determine if a follow-on was needed. There was so much interest from industry that it apparently became an annoyance to the contracting group, and a moratorium on communication regarding the opportunity was put in place by the contracting office in January 2018. An RFI was released in April of 2018 with an anticipated solicitation release in August of 2018. That release slipped to February of 2019 with a final solicitation being released in mid-July 2019.

Did you follow all of those bounces?

It gets better. The parameters of the final solicitation resulted in a pre-submittal protest because the past performance evaluation criteria were too restrictive. Proposals were submitted on September 2019. Many additional protests were received; so many, that the solicitation was cancelled in March of this year. We are now awaiting the follow-on solicitation.

What We Know About FBI ITECS 

The revised solicitation is expected late in 1Q FY21 with a potential award sometime in early 4Q FY21. We suspect it will be done against the GSA MAS using pertinent SINs with an anticipated ceiling somewhere around $5B. Most likely, it will be awarded in full and open competition with some number of awards going to small business. If the thought process from the original, failed solicitation holds, there will probably be somewhere between 60 and 100 awards split across large and small business types but it could be significantly less.

The solicitation will ask for support services across a number of tracks, mostly likely to include:

  • End User Services
  • Business Application Services
  • Delivery Services
  • Platform Services
  • Infrastructure Services
  • Emerging Services

Each of these tracks will have further subdivisions and will most likely include some measure of administrative services that fall outside of these tracks. This would include training, white paper development, briefings, project support, etc.

It’s not known at this time, if there will be a mandatory track or a mandatory number of tracks for the responses.

FBI ITECS Proposal Content

Hard to say exactly what the required proposal content will be. I would anticipate the following:

  • Volume 1: Technical/Management (50-75 pages, might be two volumes with slightly larger total page count)
  • Volume 2: Cost/Price (unlimited)
  • Volume 3: Past Performance (probably limited to most recent three years and two pages per)
  • Volume 4: Small Business Participation Plan (for large business only)
  • Volume 5: Administrative Information (unlimited)

Note that the volume numbers will most likely differ from these.

FBI ITECS Evaluation Factors

Given the protest history of the previous attempt, you should anticipate the FBI will be reasonably open with the parameters around past performance requirements and will not be overly restrictive.

How to Win FBI ITECS 

Your past performance, and your ability to use it along with other “proof points,” will be critical to winning this procurement. Team to fill in any gaps you may have to ensure full coverage of the tracks. The failed procurement had teams with as many as 13 teammates, so don’t be shy.

I would also consider an extensive meatball chart at the beginning of the Past Performance volume to provide the evaluator with additional insight into the breadth and depth of your team’s experience. Tailor it to the major sections of the PWS/SOW with ties back to the evaluation factors.

How To Prepare Now for FBI ITECS 

Monitor eBuy since this will probably come out as a GSA MAS RFQ.

At this point, I would begin working on my past performance by mapping selected contracts to the broad tracks identified above. You should anticipate some content being required around task order management and be sure to collect proof points to be liberally spread throughout your response.

If you haven’t already done so, start working on teaming agreements, doing the hard work in hammering out potential workshare agreements, and determining what your management structure may look like. As mentioned earlier, this is anticipated to be at least a $5B ceiling, but it may well exceed that since that was the estimate in 2018.

Work with your teammates to determine potential key personnel.

Want more information? Need help with an upcoming proposal?

Errata:

GovWin Opportunity ID:            108142

Beta.SAM.Gov Notice ID:          TBD