NAVSEA releases an Acquisition Overview for Next Generation SeaPort (Seaport-NxG)

In May 2016, NAVSEA issued an RFI collecting SeaPort-e lessons learned to assist the government in formulating a future strategy for SeaPort-e by analyzing and examining all solutions and options.

NAVSEA has released an Acquisition Overview brief, dated August 8, 2017, offering a summary of the RFI findings and analysis. The government concluded other contract vehicles, including OASIS, have been eliminated as a possible substitute for SeaPort-e. NAVSEA posits it has been costly to the government to maintain all of the SeaPort-e contracts, especially considering the existence of SeaPort-e contract holders not actively bidding on requirements.

As a result of the government’s findings, a new iteration of SeaPort-e will be pursued to be known as Next Generation SeaPort (SeaPort-NxG). Certain criteria for SeaPort-NxG have been defined. Some criteria include:

• Retain an established vendor base and maximize competition.  SeaPort-e has 5,000+ prime contractors with awarded task orders going to less than 20% of those companies. By maximizing competition, task orders might be awarded more evenly across the available vendor pool.
• Restrict entry to vendors which have relevant past performance and will actively bid on procurements.  As of now, the government has not stated if they will continue rolling admissions on the next iteration. What will the admission criteria entail and how will this proposed restriction impact potential admissions to the vehicle?
• Eliminate Zones – Of the 7 Zones on seaport-e, over 50% of awards were in VA and MD located in Zones 2 and 3.  The 2nd highest spending was only 17% of spending in Zone 6. The elimination of Zones should allow increased access and visibility for all primes, as Zone registration will not be required.
• Consolidate functional areas – SeaPort-e has 22 functional areas. Depending on the extent, the consolidation could lead to an increased reduction of redundant requirements.
• Possess a single NAICS - Engineering Services (541330) was used in over 95% of all task orders on Seaport-e. Possessing a single NAICS could assist the government in streamlined procurements and may also have an impact on vehicle entry restrictions by requiring a single NAICS.
• Flexible requirements and contract types  Almost 60% of all task orders awarded on Seaport- e were Cost Plus Fixed Fee followed by 24% Firm Fixed Price. As a result of having more flexibility in this area, we may see an increase of other awarded contract types under SeaPort-NxG.

SeaPort-NxG estimated procurement timeline:

• Virtual industry days: into FY18
• Draft RFP: Q1 FY18
• RFP: Q2 FY18
• Awards: FY19

The existing SeaPort-e MACs are scheduled to expire in April 2019, with task orders anticipated to be awarded until MAC expiration. Task orders, which are awarded by the April 2019 expiration, may have a period of performance up to five years resulting in a potential ultimate expiration of April 2024.