Winning the $50B Army MAPS Contract

What is the Army MAPS Contract?

The Army Marketplace for the Acquisition of Professional Services (MAPS) is a new hybrid self-scoring contract initiative led by the Army Contracting Command. This will be a key contract for those organizations wishing to sell a broad range of services to the Army. It combines components of the RS3 and ITES-3S vehicles into a cohesive Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) framework. MAPS is designed to streamline the procurement of knowledge-based services essential for mission-critical support across the Army, Department of Defense, and other federal agencies.

Background: The combination of ITES-3S and RS3 into MAPS offers several key benefits to include:

• Streamlined procurement
• Reduced redundancy
• Cost and time savings
• Comprehensive solutions/Increased flexibility
• Alignment with the Army’s ongoing digital transformation
• Expanded scope
• Longer duration
• Availability of multiple NAICS codes

The Army’s ultimate goal is to create a more integrated and comprehensive marketplace for purchasing staff augmentation and other professional services for the U.S. Army and other federal agencies.

Key Benefits of Army MAPS Contract

Based on what we know now, MAPS is expected to have a $50B dollar ceiling and a base period of performance of five years with one five-year option. As previously stated, this is an IDIQ effort and should be a full and open competition with small business set asides (SBSA) probably split across various socio-economic categories. The number of potential awards is unknown, it would be reasonable to expect 100 or more awards with a healthy mix of Other Than Small and small business awardees.

Expected Schedule: The original draft RFP was released in October of last year and we have now cycled through SAM.gov updates and are on the third iteration of the draft RFP. The expectation is the Final RFP and solicitation will be released in late April with an award date in November of 2027. This allows for a long onramp to get prepared for the proposal effort.

Solicitation Specifics: The response will be a submission set comprised of five documents. These are:

• Cover Letter
• Gate Criteria, described below
• Volume I – Systems, Agreements, & Certifications
• Volume II – Past Performance
• Small Business Subcontracting Plan (Large Business only)

Who Can Apply for Army MAPS Contract? Eligibility Requirements

Gate Criteria: Per the latest draft, we know that the effort will be evaluated based upon a “gated approach.” Under this approach, the Government will assess documentation for baseline qualifications on a pass-fail basis, and those responses that pass will go on to further review. Gate information requirements will be provided via a questionnaire to be provided at submission. The table below shows the criteria for the pass-fail:

It’s unclear which of these may be mandatory, although all must be documented.

Volume I – Systems, Agreements and Certifications contains documentation for Government-approved systems, agreements, certifications.

Those responses surviving the pass fail will then have their scorecards evaluated. Scorecards are multiple question spreadsheet consisting of 13 multi-part questions tied back to qualifying projects.

Volume II – Past Performance: Speaking of qualifying projects, for each domain, an offeror may propose up to three qualifying projects per domain bid. The domain and their associated NAICS are (the overarching NAICS are 541330, 541611, 541715, 541512, or 541519):

• Technical Domain: The QP must be one of the five (5) overarching NAICS Codes or 541614 or 541712
• Management and Advisory Domain: The QP must be one of the five (5) overarching NAICS Codes or 611430 or 541712.
• RDT&E Domain: The QP must be one of the five (5) overarching NAICS Codes or 541614 or 541712
• Emerging IT Domain: The QP must be one of the five (5) overarching NAICS Codes or 541511, 541712 or 518210
• Foundational IT Domain: The QP must be one of the five (5) overarching NAICS Codes 541513, 541712 or 611420

For each domain proposed, you may have a maximum of three qualifying projects. These projects must:

• Be a single contract or Task Order under a BPA, IDIQ, or Federal Supply Schedule
• Have a minimum total contract value of $2 million
• Have at least 1 year of performance and either be in process or have an end date with four years of the proposal submission date
• Align with the domain NAICS cited above

Level of Effort

This response will be a hybrid approach to what has recently been seen with the evidence-based approaches of the GSA, i.e., OASIS+, in that there will be a reasonable amount of content creation along with the collation of documentations for submittal. Your proposal team will most likely need to consist of a:

1. Proposal Manager
2. Coordinator
3. 1 Technical Writer for each domain proposed and a
4. Desktop publisher/Editor.

The number of Technical Writers may be reduced if the initial response timeline is more than 45 days.

Assuming a 45-day response period, consider the following estimates for actual hours required:

Proposal Manager:        240 hours

Coordinator:                 160 hours

Technical Writer: 80 hours per domain proposed

Desktop/Editor:   50 hours (This shouldn’t be a graphics-intensive response)

What Do I Need to Do Now to Win:

Several things come to mind:

• Start to identify your proposal team specifically your Proposal Manager and your Coordinator.
• Determine the domains you wish to propose and where you have projects with the appropriate NAICS
• Start the process of identifying your potential qualifying programs with an eye toward the fitting them into one or both categories of transformation and efficiency.

Keys to Winning: Organization will be key to this effort. Get your organization in place early; they can start collecting and cataloguing the data and begin the necessary prep work.

How OCI Can Help You Win

With nearly 40 years in the proposal business, OCI has a variety of consultants who can provide the winning edge.  These consultants have experience with ITES and / or RS3.

Support services include:

1. Staff Augmentation – OCI helps fill in talent missing from your proposal team. Such as a Proposal Manager, Coordinator, or Technical Writer(s).
2. Whole Proposal – OCI provides the whole team.