The General Services Administration (GSA) announced it will be pushing back the release of requests for proposals (RFP) for its Polaris Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) vehicle until January 2022, the agency announced on its interact GSA blog.
The initial solicitations will target small businesses and women-owned small businesses (WOSB) first, then the RFPs targeting Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB) will follow.
“We are thankful for you, our dedicated industry professionals. We’ve received much feedback regarding the planned release timeline of the Polaris solicitations,” GSA Business Management Specialist Valerie Carreno wrote.
“In an effort to provide all of our stakeholders time to celebrate this holiday season with friends and family, the solicitations for the small business and WOSB pools are planned for release in January 2022, Carreno continued. “Thank you for your continued support.”
The Polaris GWAC would allow Federal agencies to procure contracts from the three specialized small business pools (WOSB, HUBZone, SDVOSB) for customized IT solutions for a variety of technologies as well as any emerging technology that arises over the course of the contract. The ordering period of the contract will be open for five years from the Notice-to-Proceed date, with an option to extend to 10 years.
The RFPs were originally expected to be released this month. The contract vehicle was first announced Dec. 31, 2020.
