It's a great time to be in the public sector if you offer professional services. Earlier this year, GSA opened Phase II of their OASIS+ contract vehicle and expanded the scope with 5 new domains. There is currently no deadline for submission or limit on contract awards, so we're encouraging companies to get their foot in the door now. If you offer non-IT professional services, this vehicle might be for you. Let's review what OASIS+ is and how your business may be able to benefit from the contract.
OASIS +, or One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS)+ is a Best-In-Class (BIC) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for non-IT professional services. This means it's a high performing vehicle that is set up to provide an indefinite quantity of services for a fixed period of performance.
The primary purpose of OASIS + is to give government agencies easy and efficient access to innovative services from highly qualified businesses. OASIS+ is also a unique small business contract because it includes pools for 8(a), HUBZone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, and Women-Owned small businesses.
The contract vehicle’s scope is organized by domains which make it easier for government agencies, because when they are ready to issue a task order solicitation, they will select the contract family first, and then the domain that meets their needs. Each domain will have a list of North American Industry Classification (NAICS) Codes to choose from. You can view the domains and their relevant NAICS Codes on GSA's webpage.
In Phase II, GSA added 5 additional domains which are marked below. They are:
Each domain has its own set of requirements, which are listed in each of the separate solicitations. Requirements for small business set-asides and unrestricted businesses will be different across the domains as well. Contractors may submit under multiple domains as long as they have relevant experience for each one. GSA recently published a webpage for all the separate solicitations and their updates, so you can learn more about each one there.
Unlike the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), all proposals that meet the domain-specific requirements will be accepted. So it's important you review the relevant "Domain Qualifications Matrix and Scorecard" for the domain(s) you are planning to submit an offer under to make sure you meet the minimum requirements. Each line item in the scorecards will be assigned a certain amount of credits that add up to the total at the bottom. Depending on the domain, the criteria is weighed differently.
For example, in the Technical and Engineering Domain for Small businesses, you can earn up to 4 credits for Competition in Multiple Award Environments, but only 3 credits for this in the Environmental Domain for Small Businesses. You do not need federal experience to compete in OASIS+, but it will help you score higher in certain domains as demonstrated by this example.
In the Executive Order on Consolidating Procurement, the Trump Administration is in the process of transitioning the acquisition of most common goods and services to GSA, as well as put a stronger emphasis on Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and other Best-In-Class (BIC) like OASIS+. These vehicles are high performing and are built for efficiency and cost reduction, so the administration wants to encourage federal agencies to use them for their products and services needs.
This is good news for contractors already under GSA's OASIS+ and those looking to on-ramp soon. If you are looking to get involved with OASIS+, we suggest you start the process soon since we don't know exactly how long GSA will leave Phase II open for.
We know it can be simultaneously exciting and overwhelming to sift through and monitor all the contracting opportunities available to you as a GSA contractor, especially new contract vehicles. We are keeping a close eye on OASIS+ updates, and you can follow along for more information on our blog and our monthly newsletter. You can also check out the GSA Interact OASIS+ page for routine updates.
Submitting proposals for OASIS+ and the GSA MAS Program is not an easy or self-explanatory process by any means. Our Proposal Writers are preparing OASIS+ proposals for our clients, and they are here to help you too with your OASIS+ or GSA Schedule needs.