GSA puts Polaris contract back in motion

The General Services Administration has restarted the process for its Polaris governmentwide IT solutions contract vehicle and reopened the portal for submitting proposals.

In a pair of SAM.gov notices Thursday, GSA said it also has given bidders a new submission deadline of Aug. 10 after a pause over nearly three months to re-evaluate the procurement. Companies and teams previously had until June 30 to get their proposals in.

Polaris has one track for contractors designated as general small business and a second for woman-owned SBs.

The most-debated aspect of Polaris' solicitation, and subject of a prior pre-award protest, appears to have some changes in light of the GAO challenge and industry-wide worries.

For mentor-protege joint ventures, the protege or offering JV must include at least one primary relevant experience project or emerging technology relevant experience project in the proposal. No more than three examples can come from the mentor.

Prior language in the request for proposals had no requirement for a small business involved in either a general joint venture or mentor-protege JV to detail any relevant experience or past performance.

One might notice no reference to a ceiling figure in this article. That is because GSA removed the ceiling requirement via a class deviation to the Federal Acquisition Regulations back in March.

The OASIS professional services vehicle does not have a ceiling either.