The General Service Administration (GSA) agency has published a Draft-solicitation notice about the Human Capital and Training Solutions Small Business on-ramp, intending to keep the industry informed about the HCaTS SB requirements and encourage them to provide comments, questions, or requests for clarifications on the draft solicitation.
This is an on-ramping, competitive process that aims to enhance SB participation and boost competition within HCaTS SB Pool 1. According to the notice, the Government is planning to add approximately 30 new contractors with diverse socioeconomic statuses. The competition is open for companies that are classified in one of these SBA Set-Aside categories:
- HUBZone Small Business
- Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)
- Woman-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB)
- 8 (a) Small Business (8(a) SB)
The DRAFT Solicitation Notice 47QREB-18-R-0001 was released on July 20, 2018; whereas a virtual industry day was held on August 6, 2018.
More about HCaTS SB
The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts, HCaTS SB, were awarded in May 2016 by the General Services Administration Federal agency.
A new partnership between the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the General Services Administration (GSA) is created with the ultimate goal to jointly award and administer a new strategically sourced contract vehicle that requires a wide range of services through HCaTS SB.
The on-ramp HCaTS is open for all types of contracts at the task order level, including Fixed-Price (FP), Time-and-|Material (TA) Labour-Hour (LH) and Cost-Reimbursement (CR). In addition, task orders allow a combination of more than one contract type. Contractors can also include incentives, performance-based measures, multi-year or option periods, and commercial or non-commercial items.
The objective of this program is to provide Federal agencies with a total range of integrated and customized solutions including:
- training and development services
- human capital strategy services
- organizational performance
- improvement services at all levels (e.g., enterprise, unit, individual)
Eventually, these solutions must be in line with the principles of sound human capital management at the task order level.
As stated in the Scope of Work section in the DRAFT solicitation through this partnership, GSA will be principally responsible for contract administration, while OPM will be responsible for policy oversight and customer assistance. Moreover, both Federal agencies will provide optional assisted acquisition services for HCaTS SB customers through delegated procurement authority.
Furthermore, GSA has provided some guideline about interested potential contractors regarding the competition process. They have indicated that the HCaTS program is not a GSA Schedule contract, it is an on-ramping competitive process, and there will not be a continuously open application process. Ultimately, the update states the opportunity will likely be targeted to a single pool at a time.
About Proposal Submission and Award
GDIC estimates the final solicitation is posted by the end of September 2018. GDIC is a specialized firm in proposal development and consulting services able to bring many years of expertise and experience in any project. For a comprehensive proposal writing process and a winning final product, make sure to hire the best industry talent.
