Past Performance a Prediction of Future Demand for SEWP?

As SEWP IV moves toward its expiration, spending through the vehicle has continued to increase over the past three fiscal years after a dip in 2010. Throughout the life of the contract, various agencies have issued guidance on buying through SEWP, including the Department of Defense, Veteran’s Affairs, Department of the Interior, and NASA. Based on total spending to date, the agencies with the most spending through SEWP IV are as follows: Veteran’s Affairs (25.93%), Defense Department (13.66%), Department of Justice (9.84%), Air Force (6.16%), Navy (6.34%), and NASA (4.55%).

The SEWP contract vehicle will be getting bigger in this next chapter, as both the ceiling value and duration increases. Solutions are also adapting to new technologies and concerns, like cloud computing and supply chain risk management.  In recent years, agencies have leveraged SEWP IV as a vehicle for buying cloud infrastructure. Moving forward, SEWP V will include cloud computing offering, which fall under the “breadth and depth offerings that can be proposed as available components” by vendors in all Groups.

As it’s grown over the years, SEWP has found itself in new role. The program office grew from 15 to 50 people and it’s gotten a higher profile as agencies look to optimize acquisition strategies. Data collection efforts in SEWP V are expected to drive strategic sourcing through analysis of agency buying habits. In a more overt strategic sourcing effort, the SEWP program office was appointed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to lead an effort to streamline and improve agency options for buying laptops, desktops, and other end user devices. In a request for information posted May 20, 2014, industry is asked to field questions about extended warranties, technology refreshment, reporting requirements, and pricing among other topics. (Responses to the RFI are due June 6, 2014.)

The program office anticipates announcing the award for SEWP V on or about mid-August 2014, but vendors can still participate in SEWP V even if they did not submit a proposal. Following the announcement, vendors will have the opportunity to add their products or product services as part of the awarded contracts. Historically, vendors not priming SEWP might find larger contract holders keen to partner as a way of gaining a competitive advantage through innovation, teaming, or socio-economic standing. However, the addition of supply chain security concerns in the next iteration of the contract is likely to make contract holders more cautious about their partnering arrangements. With a ceiling value of $20 billion, the next version of the SEWP contract stands to offer plenty of business opportunities.

Updates and additional information about the opportunity may be found in the GovWin opportunity database (opportunity ID: 82396) as well as through NASA’s SEWP program office.