GWACS

Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACS) provide Best-in-Class (BIC) solutions for the federal government. This gives several different government agencies the ability to purchase from a vendor off of a single contract. GWACs hold IT solutions such as systems design, software engineering, information assurance, and enterprise architecture solutions.

The most widely known part about these is that the federal government negotiates lower prices with vendors to add them to these contracts, which gives the government more incentives to buy from those that hold them and vendors a higher chance for their goods or services will be purchased.

Within all GWACs, some are tailored for small businesses and other set-asides. All GWACs can last for a maximum of five years and some contain extension options.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has given the ability to create GWACS to three (3) agencies based on the Clinger-Cohen Act. These three agencies are as follows:

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• General Service Administration (GSA)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

GSA

The GSA has created a Dashboard that provides information on the sales made through their GWACs.

As of 2023, the current contracts that are open are:

• 8(a) STARS III - Only contains 8(a) companies.
• Alliant 2 - Vendors that offer artificial intelligence (AI), distributed ledger technology (DLT), robotic process automation (RPA), and other types of emerging technologies.
• VETS 2 - Only contains Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs).
• Polaris - Only contains small business concerns.
• Alliant 3 - This has not been released but will replace Alliant 2.

NASA

As of 2023, NASAs GWAC is called Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP). It is known as NASA SEWP V.

Their GWAC contains Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Audio-Visual (AV) products.

NIH

The NIH offers GWACs through a program called the NIH Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC).

As of 2023, the current contracts that are open are:

• CIO-SP3 - Vendors that offer IT services and solutions.
• CIO-SP3 Small Business - Only contains small business concerns.
• CIO-CS - Vendors that provide commodities or as-a-service solutions.
• CIO-SP4 - This has not been released but will be replacing CIO-SP3.