Multiple Award Contracts (MACs) have the following characteristics.

• Awards are made to a number of vendors and the winning vendors compete among themselves for business.
• Task Orders or Requests for Quotes (RFQs) are issued to one or more of the vendors to meet specific agency requirements. The minimum number of bids requested is usually three.
• Approved vendor price lists are negotiated as part of proposal evaluation and contract award process. The price lists become part of the contract and are used to price Task Orders or RFQs.

The percentage of federal purchases made through multiple award contracts will increase dramatically in the future. Federal procurement organizations are experiencing ever increasing workloads while losing staff. Multiple award contracts have always been popular with end users because they can buy what they need quickly and with contracting officials and because they can buy what the end users want with minimal staff. They are now becoming even more popular because the procurement system would grind to a halt without them.

MACs have become particularly popular for buying information technology (IT) products and services. The most significant IT MACs to be awarded in 2006 are Alliant and Alliant Small Business.

This week the General Services Administration made the following announcements.

GSA HOLDS VIRTUAL ALLIANT/ALLIANT SB INDUSTRY DAY
Online video presents strategy and timeline.
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) today announced that an Alliant/Alliant Small Business (Alliant SB) video will be posted on the Internet Feb. 21 and will contain the contract strategy and timeline for the two new government-wide acquisition contracts (GWAC) for information technology (IT) solutions.
"We decided to release this information on the Web, because we wanted to ensure that it would be available to all interested parties, rather than limiting the audience to those able to attend a traditional Industry Day," said John Johnson, GSA's Assistant Commissioner for Service Development and Delivery. "There is a great deal of interest in these contracts, and the Web provides a venue that makes the information available to all, at their own convenience."
To access the video, please see the Tuesday, Feb. 21, FedBizOpps.gov notice. Upon release of the video, GSA will accept comments and questions via the email address specified on FedBizOpps.

FedBizOpps Notice - 2/14/06
On February 21, 2006, the General Services Administration (GSA) will release new information regarding Alliant and Alliant Small Business (SB), two government-wide acquisition contracts (GWAC) for information technology (IT) solutions. The new information will be in the form of a video presentation on the Internet, accessible to all interested parties at a site specified on that date. The video will outline the major issues which have been identified since the initial draft Requests for Proposal (RFPs) were released and the enhancements to the Alliant and Alliant SB GWACs that will be made in response to those issues. The video will also include an updated milestone schedule including a second round of draft RFPs, the final RFPs and the award of Alliant and Alliant SB contracts. Upon release of the Alliant webcast, interested parties may wish to ask questions or obtain clarity concerning the overarching strategy. Please email questions and comments to either of the following addresses: the Alliant email, which is alliant@gsa.gov, or the Alliant SB email, which is sbgwac@gsa.gov. Answers to these questions will be posted on both the Alliant and Alliant SB web sites at http://www.gsa.gov/alliant and http://www.gsa.gov/alliantsb.

Vendors offering IT products and services should view the GSA Alliant and Alliant Small Business video. For small businesses the decision to prepare a proposal in response to the Alliant Small Business Request for Proposal (RFP) (when it finally is published) will be difficult. The original draft RFP indicated that GSA was anticipating receipt of hundreds of proposals and planning on making only 40 small business awards. If the 40 award number isn't increased, only large small businesses (average annual revenue for the past three fiscal years of $10 - $20 million) will have a reasonable chance of receiving an award.

We shall see.