Due to an overwhelming response to the draft RFP, the General Services Administration is pushing release of the final Network Services 2020 (NS2020) Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS) RFP from the initial July timeframe out to September.
Agencies and industry submitted more than 1,600 comments on the proposed telecommunications contract vehicle, intended to replace the Networx vehicle when it expires in 2020.
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A three-year extension of Networx also prompted the Network Services team to cancel the Regional Infrastructure Services (RIS) contracts, originally meant to bridge the gap between Networx and EIS.
In March, GSA had updated the regional solicitation with a note reading: "At this time, the EIS acquisition is our main focus. GSA is exploring options for a most effective acquisition strategy that will produce an optimized portfolio under the NS2020 framework and for EIS to meet local service requirements."
On May 27, the post was updated with a
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The EIS program office has already identified more than 175 needed changes to the RFP, ranging from technical requirements to the number of mandated services to areas that need more detailed explanations.
More significant changes include removing dial-up service as a mandatory offering and giving providers an option to bid IP Voice or Circuit Switched Voice Services, rather than requiring them to offer both to qualify.
The final RFP will also be a simpler read, with the data dictionary whittled down by some 40 percent.
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Despite the delay, the final awards are still on track for release by the end of 2016, according to Fred Haines,
"Agencies will be able to start dropping their RFP/RFQ packages the moment we give notification to proceed," he said during an industry day on May 28. The notification to proceed will likely come in January or February 2017.
The key to EIS success will be a smooth transition, unlike the shift from FTS2001 to Networx, which took more than six years to complete.
"After the release of the RFP, my attention is going to go directly to ensuring that we don't have a repeat of what happened to Networx," said Amando Gavino, director of the Office of Network Services Programs.
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The Networx contracts expire in May 2020, at which point every agency will have to have transitioned to EIS. In order to meet that date, the program office hopes to have 50 percent of contracts transitioned by January 2019.
To make this timetable viable, agencies will be required to submit transition plans to GSA and the Office of Management and Budget before the EIS awards are announced.
"Once the RFP is out, the agencies will have enough information about what's going to be in the resulting contract to develop a high-level agency-wide transition plan," EIS Transition Manager Debbie Hren said.
Agencies can find a transition plan template on GSA's EIS Interact site.
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
