Estimated Release: Program is currently on hold per announcements from the contracting office. The contracting office has explicitly stated that this program has not been cancelled, but it is on hold, with no current timeframe for the resumption of procurement activity.
Solicitation #:N0010409RQ190
ESTIMATED VALUE: $10 Billion
Update 04.09.12: The contracting office confirmed that this solicitation remains on hold, but they anticipate discussions to resume in the coming weeks regarding the direction and plans for the ESI/Compass procurement.
The DoD ESI is a joint program chartered by the DoD CIOs to leverage the DoD’s aggregate buying power for commercial software, hardware and services and promulgate best practices in acquisition and implementation. DoD ESI leads in the establishment and management of enterprise COTS IT agreements, assets, and policies for the purpose of lowering total cost of ownership across the DoD, Coast Guard and Intelligence communities. By pooling commercial software requirements and presenting a single negotiating position to leading software vendors, ESI provides pricing advantages not otherwise available to individual Services and Agencies.
ESI/Compass SYNOPSIS
Program Name: DOD ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE INITIATIVE (ESI) COTS AND SOA SYSTEMS INTEGRATION SERVICES (ESI/Compass)
History: This solicitation is a continuing requirement and is consistent with the DOD objective for systems integration and implementation of COTS software using Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). All the Information Officers within DOD who manage major COTS programs support this effort. It offers a way they can leverage their collective buying power for commercial software and services. COTS software is used to support many of the Department's functions – finance/accounting, inventory, asset/logistics management, supply chain management, customer relationship management, etc.
Agency: Department of Defense
Office: Office of the Secretary of Defense, Chief Information Officer/Networks and Information Integration (CIO-NII)
Description: DoD ESI leads in the establishment and management of enterprise COTS IT agreements, assets, and policies for the purpose of lowering total cost of ownership across the DoD, Coast Guard and Intelligence communities. By pooling commercial software requirements and presenting a single negotiating position to leading software vendors, ESI provides pricing advantages not otherwise available to individual Services and Agencies. DoD ESI is extending IT Asset Management to the DoD Component level. The cross-component DoD ESI Team promotes regular sharing of information about IT hardware enterprise acquisition practices, and is represented on the DoD’s Strategic Sourcing Board of Directors. DoD ESI operates under the purview of the ESI Steering Group, led by the DoD Deputy CIO.
Contract Type and Other Characteristics: This is expected to be a full and open competition consisting of Firm Fixed Price, Cost Reimbursement, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity, Time and Materials, Task Orders. It will be 3-year base with two 1-year options. The contract will be available to all services and agencies within the Department.
Areas of Technology: COTS software applications that support key business and operational functions. Commercial software integration, which includes the planning, acquisition, and implementation of COTS packages, as well as cloud computing principles have been added to the overall requirements.
Structure of the RFP: This solicitation is still in the pre-RFP stage.
Proposal Preparation Challenges: It is expected that many contract will be issued. INPUT estimates there might be as many as 20 awards. FedBizOps suggests that prospective bidders follow this procurement at [http://cio-nii.defense.gov/policy/esi.shtml] for more information.
Resources of OCI can be beneficial
This may not be an easy proposal to develop. With the number of estimated awards a competitive and compliant ESI/Compass proposal will require forward planning, teaming, and cost/pricing arrangements for COTS software packages.
OCI has the expertise and resources of professional proposal consultants to assist you with:
1. Capture Planning
2. A Black Hat Review
3. Teaming Strategies
4. Competitive Analysis
5. Proposal Management
6. Proposal Writing
7. Pricing Analysis
8. Proposal Production
9. Red Team Review
10. Whole Proposal Team