Welcome to the T4 Teaming Center

On AUG 13 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs released Amendment 8 for the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) program, a copy of which is available under the Documents section of this record. This amendment provides the Sixth Round of Questions and Answers and Labor Category Descriptions.

Proposals remain due on Tuesday, AUG 31 2010 at 12:00pm EDT. In reference to proposal submission, the previous information provided in reference to the Vendor Portal (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov) should be disregarded. The web address for the VOA site is https://www.voa.va.gov/. Offerors will be required to be registered users on the VOA website in order to submit proposals. Awards are anticipated to be made on SEP 30 2010. FedSources will continue to monitor the development of this solicitation and provide updates as they are obtained.

Description:

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a requirement for Contractor-provided solutions in support of Information Technology. The agency is requesting comments only regarding the issued Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS). This includes services and hardware for client requirements that span across the entire spectrum of existing and future technical environments, hardware/software systems, lifecycle, and applications. IT technologies, by their nature, are dynamic and evolving. Descriptions of technical environments as well as information on software and hardware requirements shall be provided in the PWS for each Task Order.

This is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Task Order (MATO) contract. Individual Task Orders shall be issued on a Time-and-Materials (T&M))/Labor Hour (LH), Cost Reimbursement (CR), and/or Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) basis. The NAICS code is 541519 and the standard size is $25 million. The ceiling of the program is expected to be $12 billion. The agency expects to award contract in a two-phase process. First, fifteen prime contracts are expected to be awarded during the Full and Open phase of awards. Second, the agency will award small business [Service Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses (SDVOB) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSB)] contracts in the “reserved” portion of the award. Contracting Officer, Sharon Fernandes, explained that if there are seven small business (four to SDVOB's and three to VOB's) awards made during the first phase of the award, the agency then has the right to make no further awards.

The place of performance shall be identified in individual Task Orders. Locations will be Government or Contractor sites within the continental United States (CONUS) and/or outside the continental United States (OCONUS).

Please note that te Government has decided to utilize the Virtual Office of Acquisition (VOA) website for T4 proposal submissions instead of the Vendor Portal. The web address for the VOA site is https://www.voa.va.gov/. Offeror’s will be required to be registered users on the VOA website in order to submit proposals.

This is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Task Order (MATO) contract. Individual Task Orders shall be issued on a performance-based Time-and-Materials (T&M), Cost Reimbursement (CR), and/or Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) basis.

FedSources is seeking information regarding the program office/manager.

Department of Veterans Affairs expects that one of the Task Orders to be issued under the T4 program will fulfill the requirement for Veterans Information Technology Architecture and Long-term Solution (VITALS) program. This was previously a separate procurement that FedSources tracked under FSI0051330.

Services:
The Contractor shall provide a total solution, encompassing, but not limited to, required hardware, software, and IT products, in conjunction with all services needed to integrate a system, network, or other IT service in order to meet a client’s mission requirements. Accordingly, Task Orders may include acquisitions of hardware, software, and other products. Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) is not intended as a mechanism to solely purchase IT products. Such products may be purchased to the extent that those products are necessary to deliver the solution required. Services shall include technical, systems engineering and other solutions encompassing the entire range of IT requirements. Services, as well as related IT products, may encompass the entire life-cycle of a system, including, as applicable, program management and strategy planning, systems/software engineering, enterprise network, cyber security, operation and maintenance and IT facilities. Moreover, services and related products covered under this contract shall be global in reach and the Contractors must be prepared to provide services and deliverables worldwide.

Contractor-provided solutions may support the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), other Federal Agencies, and if so authorized by specific Legislation (e.g. Public Law 108-136 Section 803), tasks for State and local Governments involving information technology and telecommunications that are federally funded.

Background:

FedSources has obtained articles regarding potential incumbent details for the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) program.

Federal News Radio released an article entitled, "VA Issues Draft RFP for New IT Hardware, Software Contract". The article states that, "T4 likely is the replacement for the VA's Austin Automation Center Enterprise Systems (AACES) contract, which is a multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity fixed labor hour vehicle for services, hardware and software. The current contract has a ceiling of $685 million and expires SEP 2011."

NextGov also released an article, "VA launches massive contract to buy IT equipment and services". This article explains, "The Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) program, or T4 for short, likely will replace VA's Global Information Technology Support Services contract, which was valued at $3 billion when it was awarded to 10 vendors in 2003, said Harold Gracey, a consultant with Topside Consulting who served as VA chief of staff from 1994 to 1998."

Copies of the articles are located in the Documents section of this record.

Contracting Officer, Sharon Fernandes, indicated that there is no specific incumbent to this program, as the T4 requirement is not expected to replace any of the contract vehicles currently set up to provide IT hardware. The T4 program is a new and more comprehensive IT contract vehicle and it will therefore be considered as a new requirement.