August 22, 2024 Update: According to a posting on G2Xchange, the SCRIPTS BPA RFQ was released on August 19, 2024 with a closing date of September 16, 2024.
July 1, 2024 Update: Today marks the start of the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024. While a final RFQ has yet to be issued for SCRIPTS, GSA did release an RFI with the draft RFQ late last week “to assist in the planning and development of a forthcoming Request for Quote (RFQ) for the SCRIPTS BPA program.” According to a posting on G2Xchange, it appears this RFI was issued within eBuy.
Barring any changes ahead of the final RFQ, you must hold one of the following Special Item Numbers (SINs) to compete for the upcoming BPA: 54151S, 54151ECOM, 541990RISK, 541611, 541614SVC, 518210C. Any questions regarding the draft RFQ are due by 5pm eastern time on July 8, 2024.
A new General Services Administration (GSA) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) titled, Supply Chain Risk Illumination Professional Tools and Services (SCRIPTS), is on the horizon. GSA issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the SCRIPTS BPA a few months ago that provided some insight into the upcoming opportunity.
What is SCRIPTS?
Based upon the RFI, the SCRIPTS BPA is meant to help federal agencies gain greater insight into their federal supply chain, including the health of industry suppliers and potential risks they may introduce into the supply chain.
Per GSA, the new BPA is intended to, “establish core, multi-component, supply chain risk illumination tools, with associated professional analytic support services, to help mitigate the risk of high vulnerability to fraud, abuse, and adversarial exploitation of the supply chain. This BPA will allow the DoD and Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies to holistically screen and vet vendors and underlying supplier networks/affiliated personnel to ensure suppliers are reputable, in good standing, financially and operationally secure, and will not introduce unacceptable risk to the government.”
While details of the BPA may change, GSA is currently considering the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for SCRIPTS:
- 541519 – Other Computer Related Services
- 541611 – Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services, and
- 519290 – Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services.
When is the RFQ Expected for SCRIPTS?
While GSA has not provided a firm date, they anticipate the SCRIPTS BPA Request for Quote (RFQ) will be due during the fourth quarter of this fiscal year. That would be anytime between July and September of this year.
How to Compete for the SCRIPTS BPA
SCRIPTS will be a GSA Schedule BPA. This means, in order to compete for the BPA, your company must hold a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Contract, also referred to as a GSA Schedule. Not only do you need a GSA Schedule, but as is standard, your GSA MAS Contract cannot end before the BPA’s period of performance. As with many BPAs, SCRIPTS will have a total ordering period of 10 years, a 5-year base with a 5-year option. If your GSA MAS Contract expires within the next ten years and is out of extension options, you’ll need to have a new GSA MAS Contract in place to compete for SCRIPTS.
This Request for Quote (RFQ) will only be issued in GSA eBuy. The RFQ will not be accessible outside of eBuy. If your company does not hold a GSA MAS Contract, you will not be eligible to submit a quote.
GSA is proposing to associate the Special Item Numbers (SINs) listed below with the upcoming SCRIPTS RFQ. You will likely need to hold one of the SINs in the list to have access to the RFQ. However, keep in mind, the list below may change based upon feedback received in response to the RFI.
- SIN 54151ECOM – Electronic Commerce and Subscription Services
- SIN 54151S – Information Technology Professional Services
- SIN 541614SVC – Supply and Value Chain Management
- SIN 541611 – Management and Financial Consulting, Acquisition and Grants Management Support, and Business Program and Project Management Services
- SIN 541990 RISK – Risk Assessment and Mitigation Services
- SIN 518210C – Cloud Computing and Cloud Related IT Professional Services
How to Prepare for SCRIPTS
If you do not currently have a GSA MAS Contract, or one of the SINs listed above, or enough time left of your contract, there is hopeful news. The SCRIPTS opportunity should qualify you to submit under GSA’s FASt Lane program. To ensure sufficient time, GSA did recommend submissions be made under the FASt Lane program no later than May 10, 2023. That said, as we have seen in the past, dates have the tendency to be delayed.
The GSA Ascend Cloud BPA was announced back in September of 2021 with the original RFQ being slated for December 2021. However, that date has come and gone, and the RFQ for Ascend has yet to be issued. While the May 10th deadline for the SCRIPTS BPA may be flexible, we do encourage companies to get their GSA Contract in place as soon as possible in order to compete for the SCRIPTS BPA.
Need a GSA Schedule to Compete for SCRIPTS?
We can help! FEDSched has specialized in helping companies effectively obtain and manage their GSA Schedule Contracts for over 35 years. Contact us today to discuss.
