FedRAMP and StateRAMP continue to align on cyber security

May 9, 2023 by Leave a comment

By Chauncey Kehoe, Contracts Manager, State, Local, and Education

Recent federal legislation is driving states to follow suit to similar cyber regulation.

During the last few years, we have highlighted the importance of StateRAMP as it pertains to infiltrating the SLED market and staying ahead of contract requirements. Now those things will be made easier with StateRAMP’s new Security Snapshot. For those manufacturers who have not yet received StateRAMP Verified status, you can leverage the StateRAMP Security Snapshot for a small fee and understand your product’s maturity level.

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Important Considerations in an M&A

April 11, 2023 by Leave a comment

Four Issues to Consider Before Buying

By Skyler Handl, Corporate Counsel, Public Sector

If you are looking to divest your public sector-focused business or complete an acquisition this year, there is one statistic that should provide pause. According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, 70 to 90 percent of all mergers and acquisitions (M&As) fail. Overpayment and underperforming M&A are common results. Here are some key factors that may impact your decision, valuation, and success.

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Win the Chance to Bid

March 22, 2023 by Leave a comment

Tips and techniques for successful RFP responses

By Kevin P. Young, Principal Market Intelligence Analyst

How can you improve the odds of your RFP being seriously considered? There are five general rules that will help keep you from making the most common mistakes that disqualify many RFPs.

The last thing a government contractor wants is to have their bid rejected because they did not correctly complete the government’s Request for Proposals (RFPs). However, rejections for incorrect RFP response are actually a common occurrence. With so many companies competing for federal business, RFPs are often rejected for non-conformity and sloppiness.

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Are you up to speed on cooperative agreements in SLED?

March 15, 2023 by Leave a comment

This often-overlooked tool can expedite procurement for sellers

By Benjamin Harris, SLED Market Intelligence Analyst, immixGroup

Newcomers to the state, local and education (SLED) market need a better understanding of certain contracting vehicles as they make their way through this area of procurement. A fundamental difference exists between the standard purchasing agreements used widely in the federal market and “cooperative agreements,” or cooperative purchasing contracts, that are part of the SLED sales toolbox.

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SLED Contract Spotlight on The Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC)

February 15, 2023 by Leave a comment

While it’s a niche contract, it has the potential to reach into all but three states

By Jessica Wilhelm, Contract Specialist, immixGroup

It’s often the “biggest” and “broadest” contract vehicles that gain the most attention in the public sector. And with good reason, as organizations with limited time and resources often find many opportunities in such contract vehicles. However,  the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, or MHEC, (Midwestern Higher Education Compact mhec.org) IT Security Services Contract, while being a niche contract, is worth examining.  It is unique and worth considering for those organizations that are searching for SLED opportunities.  

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GSA Advantage suspensions and how your GSA contract is impacted

February 1, 2023 by Leave a comment

Order status reporting, why its important, and what to do if your contract is suspended

By Gina Brown, Manager, Federal Contracts, immixGroup

If you have a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract, you are familiar with the requirement to have your approved GSA offering uploaded onto GSA Advantage — the online shopping and ordering system. Recently, GSA surveyed agency customers and found customers wanted greater visibility into order status (e.g., shipped, cancelled, backordered). With this awareness, GSA set a goal to improve the customer buying experience and released a mass modification that required all MAS contract holders to provide a status on all GSA Advantage orders received in the GSA Advantage Purchase Order Portal.

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Understanding the GSA Ascend BPA

January 12, 2023 by Leave a comment

By Tara Franzonello, Program Development Manager, immixGroup

The General Services Administration’s FAS ITC (Federal Acquisition Service, Information Technology Center) is standardizing cloud acquisition with the “Ascend” blanket purchase agreement (BPA). Here’s what you need to know:

Ascend is a multiple-award blanket purchase agreement against the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Special Item Numbers 518210C cloud and cloud-related IT professional services and 54151S IT professional services. It is intended to help agencies simplify cloud acquisition and meet cybersecurity requirements.

BPA task orders can be placed under any of three independent primary pools identified by the government: 

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New to federal sales? What you need to know about our GSA MAS contract extension

July 20, 2022 by Leave a comment

By Gina Brown, Federal Contracts Manager

EC America was recently awarded a GSA contract extension for GS-35F-0511T. The award grants five additional years on this extremely valuable procurement contract, which now expires June 26, 2027.

The GSA MAS contract is one of the largest and most widely used government procurement vehicles, generating over $19 billion for the Information Technology “large” category every year. The contract is open to all federal agencies as well as to state and local government agencies.

What is GSA MAS?

The GSA MAS is an IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quality) government-wide, 20-year-long contract that provides government buyers access to commercial products, services and solutions at pre-negotiated pricing. Many state and local agencies look to GSA MAS as their vehicle of choice or as a base contract to govern their own vehicles. Federal agencies may also use the GSA MAS as a foundation to establish Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) for repetitive requirements for supplies or services.

Why is this important to our channel partners and suppliers?

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GSA planning government-wide cloud BPA: What you need to know

November 23, 2021 by Leave a comment

By Adam Hyman, Director, Government Programs

Over the past couple years, immixGroup has tracked discussion about the General Services Administration putting together yet a new acquisition vehicle — this time around for cloud solutions. That initial chatter may now become reality.

In 2019, GSA released an RFI seeking industry input on providing cloud products and services in creative solution bundles, to better help customers with their business/technology needs and to save the government money.

This past October, GSA released another RFI related to cloud, making its intent clearer: GSA intends to establish a government-wide, Multiple Award Blanket Purchase Agreement using the following Special Item Numbers (SINs):

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The Future of the GSA CDM SIN: What it means to you

August 17, 2021 by Leave a comment

By Gina Brown, Federal Contracts Manager

In August 2018, the CDM program underwent a procurement transition that vendors should keep in mind. Combined with a proposed elimination of the GSA CDM special item number (SIN), the changes could streamline certain aspects of the way in which products are catalogued.

Initially, blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) were awarded to 17 primes. This then switched to a two-pronged acquisition strategy, in which four GSA Alliant prime contractors were awarded six Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense (DEFEND) task orders.

These prime system integrators would purchase cybersecurity tools according to the DHS approved product list (APL), to strengthen the security posture of civilian agency customers.

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