DHS Notice to Industry from the Chief Procurement Officer - 27 Feb 19

Dear Industry Partners, Many of you have been inquiring about the future of the EAGLE II contract vehicle. In order to most effectively answer your questions, I believe it is important to provide sufficient context about the decision we are making as a Department. Where have we been? Since 2005, the Department of Homeland Security's Information Technology (IT) Services requirements have largely been supported through several iterations of Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) contract vehicles. The EAGLE contracts have provided DHS customers with access to a pre-vetted pool of vendors with capabilities across many IT disciplines. In fact, DHS has utilized the EAGLE contracts to support operations at its data centers, in developing the latest in biometric entry and exit capabilities, in modernizing existing programs through agile software development, and in obtaining independent verification and validation of these efforts. Where are we now? As a nation we are facing constantly evolving threats. The Department now, more than ever, is focused on ensuring that our IT infrastructure and data is secure. Our mission operations depend not only on the accessibility of data, but also in our ability to share information across our mission domains. The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), among other recent guidance, emphasizes the need for the Government to focus on modernizing its technology investments, and drive toward data, accountability, and transparency in our actions. These catalysts are driving DHS to re-conceptualize its IT delivery model and to prioritize initiatives such as our migration to the cloud, our transition to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions, and in optimizing our Security Operations Center presence across DHS. Additionally, with the implementation of Category Management, the Office of Management and Budget requests that agencies do not unnecessarily duplicate contracts that already serve the Government. As a result, our acquisition strategies are evolving. DHS spent several months collaborating across the information technology and procurement communities in identifying DHS's IT priorities, evaluating the IT services requirements needed to support those priorities, and in establishing an overarching acquisition strategy that enables continued mission success. DHS's approach included evaluating the future of the EAGLE contracts by comparing scope to existing Government-wide contracts, examining other DHS strategic sourcing contract vehicles, and identifying where mission critical capability gaps exist in established contract solutions. Where are we going? EAGLE I and II have served their purpose. The Department will not pursue a re-competition of EAGLE II. DHS will, however continue to utilize EAGLE II until the expiration of its period of performance. In order to most effectively and efficiently support DHS's diverse IT service needs moving forward, the Department is announcing the EAGLE Next Generation (Next Gen) Program. EAGLE Next Gen will not be a single contract vehicle, but will instead be a suite of contract vehicles. EAGLE Next Gen will consist of the creation of a portfolio of DHS IT services contract vehicles with specialized, targeted scope in conjunction with balancing the use of existing Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) (See Attachment A). Effective February 4, 2019, DHS formally adopted General Services Administration's Alliant 2, Alliant 2 Small Business, 8(a) STARS II, and VETS 2, as well as the National Institutes of Health's CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business into its Category Management and Strategic Sourcing portfolio. In the near term, industry can expect DHS to move toward establishing, in a phased approach, DHS-specific contracts which could include Agile, Cloud Services, Data Center Optimization, Independent Verification and Validation, and Systems Integration services. An announcement about the future of FirstSource will be forthcoming by the end of March. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact the Strategic Sourcing Program Office at sspo@hq.dhs.gov or our Industry Liaison Team at DHSIndustryLiaison@hq.dhs.gov. Sincerely, Soraya Correa Chief Procurement Officer