Government Contracting Blog

It’s coming—on New Year’s Eve, GSA released a draft for Polaris, the new small business IT contract that is replacing Alliant 2. Polaris is a multiple-award IDIQ contract that will provide the federal government with IT services and IT service-based solutions with an emphasis on emerging technologies.

If you look back at your 2020 plans and goals from last January, they probably don’t mention anything about a global pandemic. 2020 was an incredibly unpredictable year for all of us. Despite the economic uncertainty, government spending continues to steadily increase as agencies spring to action to make sure national, state, and local organizations have the resources they need to provide COVID-19 relief.

There’s a common misconception that contractors can only sell to the federal government through a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract. Along with a list of eligible national and international organizations, GSA contractors can also sell to state and local government as well as tribal governments and certain educational institutions through certain purchasing programs.  

On December 22, 2020, Congress passed a COVID-19 relief bill making it part of one of the highest spending bills in American history. The $900 billion Coronavirus bill is attached to an omnibus spending bill for the 2021 Fiscal Year totaling $2.3 trillion.

If you need something for your office, chances are you’ll hop onto a site like Amazon because it’s easy to search, the prices are reasonable, and it’ll arrive at your door in just a few days. If a government agency wants to purchase something, they can’t just order whatever they want from popular retailers, but they still need a simplified way to order products. So where do they go?

At a time when we are dealing with the uncertainty of the pandemic, consumer habits have changed and in some industries, commercial spending has dramatically decreased. This is alarming to many companies because the future is rocky and unpredictable. However, there are some marketplaces that are remaining steady throughout this global crisis.  U.S. federal government spending has risen significantly in the past few years. The federal government has spent over $1.6 trillion in response to COVID-19, totaling $9.9 trillion in overall spending for Fiscal Year 2020. As one of the biggest buyers in the world, the federal marketplace is always bustling—even during times of economic uncertainty.