Southern Regional Contracting Landscape

Vendors looking to contract within the Southern Region of the United States have numerous options, as contracting opportunities and contract data within the region spans widely across federal agencies. For purposes of this write-up, the Southern Region is defined as the following states: Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The top five agencies currently doing work within the Southern Region are the Departments of the Army, Navy, Defense agencies, Air Force, and Veterans Affairs. Other agencies to note within the region, but to a lesser extent than the aforementioned agencies, are the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, NASA, HHS, GSA, and Transportation.

Analyzing awarded contract data for the Southern Region of the United States over the past five years leads to insightful trends. For contracts reporting place of performance within the Southern Region, approximately $557B has been awarded across all federal agencies within this timeframe, which results in a little over 1M reported contracts. Looking specifically at place of performance by state within this timeframe shows Florida with the highest number of awarded contracts at around 19.7%, Texas coming in next at about 15.6%, and D.C./Maryland/Virginia accounting for approximately 31.3% of the total reported awarded contracts.

After going a little further in assessing reported contract awards, the data reflected over 69K contracts were awarded totaling around $317B via competitive solicitations in the Southern region over the past five years.  Reported contract data using place of performance by state reveals D.C., Maryland, and Virginia were three out of the top five states totaling approximately 44.1% combined. The remaining two of the top five states are Texas with around 11.6% and Florida at about 9.4% of the total reported contract awards within this timeframe.

Now, let’s examine some federal agency highlights within the Southern Regional landscape using data on identified active opportunities which encompasses phases pertaining to Forecast-RFP, Pre-RFP, and Source Selections.

Army

• Approximately 978 active opportunities have been identified for the Department of the Army within this region. Around 35.3% are in the Forecast Pre-RFP stage, 46.5% in the Pre-RFP stage, and 18.2% awaiting award in the Source Selection phase.
• The top reported NAICS code is 236220 followed by 237990, 561210, 541330, and 561730. Although numerous NAICS codes are reported within the Army for this region, 236220 is the overwhelming leader, accounting for around 17.8% of the total. For comparison, the second highest reported NAICS, 237990, comes in at around 9.1%.
• Both reported IDIQ and undetermined type of awards for active opportunities within the agency account for approximately around 25% each, whereas contract types identified as other total around 44%.
• With the top NAICS being 236220, Commercial and Institutional Building Construction, many construction opportunities are firm fix price contracts which would account for at least a portion of the requirements falling under the other contract type.
• Of the opportunities having estimated values, the combined value totals around $40B, with the remaining approximate 200 opportunities having a value as to be determined.
• One notable upcoming Army requirement is the Test and Evaluation Support Services for the US Army Evaluation Center, which is being tracked under Opp ID: 129046. The requirement will provide analytical support, to include test and evaluation support, methodologies, studies, and analysis, and scientific and technical services. The place of performance is expected at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland and other various locations. According to the ACC-APG Division D Competitive Industry Updates released in October 2018, the solicitation is anticipated to be released as a small business set-aside in Q2 FY19 and it is expected to have a value of $250M.
• Another upcoming Army requirement tracked under Opp ID: 152423 is the National Cyber Range Complex Event Planning, Operations and Support opportunity. This requirement is seeking realistic cyber environments to support test and evaluation or acquisition programs and to enable realistic training and certification events. The value for this requirement is estimated at around $750M. A Draft RFP is anticipated in Q1 FY19, with the Final RFP expected in Q3 FY19. The place of performance is listed as locations within Orlando, FL, Charleston, SC, Patuxent River, MD, and Fort Walton Beach, FL.

Navy

• For the Department of the Navy, approximately 557 active opportunities have been identified for the Southern Region, with 39.8% in the Forecast Pre-RFP stage, 32.1% in the Pre-RFP stage, and 28.1% currently under evaluation in the Source Selection phase.
• Unlike the Army’s more evenly spread NAICS, two NAICS codes dominate the active opportunities. The top is 541330 with around 43.9% and 236220 holding 19.4% of the total. The remaining NAICS cover numerous codes, such as 561210, 336611, and 238220; however, none reach close to the percentage held by the former.
• When looking at type of award, task/delivery orders account for the majority of the reported contract type coming in with over 200 opportunities totaling around 40.6% active opportunities. A reason for the high amount of reported task orders is the Navy’s heavy utilization of the SeaPort-e vehicle. IDIQs, other, and undetermined round out the remaining contract types at around 31.4%, 20.8%, and 7.2%, respectively.
• Of the opportunities having estimated values within the agency, the cumulative value totals approximately $26B; however, there are still 115 opportunities with values as to be determined.
• An upcoming Navy opportunity is the DB/DBB MACC for Cherry Point and New River, North Carolina, which can be found under Opp ID: 174113. The MACC will cover a range of DB and DBB projects, including new construction, demolition, repair, renovation, and alteration of systems, buildings, and infrastructure. Up to 6 contracts are expected to be awarded with a ceiling not to exceed $975M. Sources sought responses were just collected in November 2018 and are currently being evaluated.
• Being tracked under Opp ID: 171674, the PEO EIS Professional Support Services is an additional upcoming requirement to highlight. The PSS requirement seeks to provide professional support services to include, coordinating budget, acquisition, and contract input, assist in program and project prioritization, and monitor progress and performance against plans. The primary place of performance is anticipated in the National Capital Region and the value is estimated to be <$250M. The government has been finalizing its market research analysis and award is anticipated in Q3/Q4 FY19.

Air Force

• Roughly 456 active opportunities have been identified for the United States Air Force within the Southern region. Of those, Forecast Pre-RFP accounts for around 38.4%, Pre-RFP for 45.4%, and Source Selection for 16.2%.
• The Air Force’s represented NAICS codes are reported widely with no one or two NAICS dominating the field, which shows the Air Force is contracting to a broader spectrum of capabilities. Some of the NAICS codes appearing within the data are 236220, 541330, 541511, 541611, 237310, and 561210. 541330 and 236220 are represented the most with approximately 8.5% and 6.8% of the total opportunities. Even though these NAICS are the top two reported codes, they are marginally in the lead. For comparison purposes, the third top NAICS code, 541511, accounts for 5.1% of the data.
• When analyzing Air Force designated type of award, IDIQ and other come in around the same percentage as reported on this opportunities representing around 30.5% and 33.8, respectively. Task/delivery orders only account for 13.2% of the data and approximately 21.7% of the opportunities are still undetermined.
• The projected aggregate value of these opportunities within the Air Force is upwards of $43B. Around 104 of these opportunities have unreported values still as to be determined.
• An Air Force opportunity to feature is the upcoming Multiple Award Construction Contract (MACC) for various locations within Florida and Georgia. The MACC is estimated to have a ceiling of $225M and can be found under Opp ID: 141821. The requirement is expected to cover multi-disciplined construction projects and is anticipated to be set aside to small businesses and other socioeconomic categories to be further detailed in the solicitation once released. The solicitation is currently anticipated in early Calendar Year 2019.
• Another Air Force opportunity which has an imminent solicitation release timeframe expected on December 14, 2018 is the Systems Engineering & Technical Assistance (SETA VI) under Opp ID: 147691. SETA VI is projected to have a value not exceed $90M with a primary place of performance in Florida with other locations CONUS and OCONUS. The scope includes non-personal advisory and assistance and non-advisory and assistance services to include broad technical and analytical services.

Veterans Affairs

• Within the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 402 active opportunities within the Southern Region have been detected. Of these requirements, roughly 65.1% are in the Forecast Pre-RFP stage, 15.2% are in the Pre-RFP stage, and 19.7% are in the Source Selection Phase.
• Two NAICS codes are represented the most within these requirements: 236220 and 561730. Both of these NAICS codes account for approximately 10.5% each. Other top NAICS codes represented within the data are 541310 at 6.9%, 621498 at 5.7%, 541330 at 4.7%, and 623220 at 4.5%. Additional NAICS codes present but to a lesser extent are 561720, 621910, 623110, 624221, and 624229. Notable for the Department of Veterans Affairs, but not surprising given the scope of the agency, is the presence of the 62XXXX NAICS codes, which were largely absent from the previous agencies.
• Regarding type of award, the other category is the most prevalent type accounting for roughly 71.6% of the opportunities. The other category includes contracts types such as firm fixed and cost type contracts. IDIQs come in around 23.4% and approximately 3.5% are still undetermined. Identified task/delivery orders are underrepresented within this data accounting for only about 0.7% of the opportunities.
• The combined total of the opportunities with an estimated value is approximately $2.3B; however, only 82 of these opportunities have a value not yet estimated and to be determined.
• A current SDVOSB requirement for the Department of the Veterans Affairs is a project to construct a medical center parking garage in Wilmington, Delaware. This project can be found under Opp ID: 83853 and will provide 367 parking spaces for the center. The project is estimated to have a value ranging between $10M-$20M.
• An additional Veterans Affairs project is to Replace Building 71 in Hampton, Virginia which is being tracked under Opp ID: 173395. The project replaces building 71 and eliminates administrative lease space. The solicitation is currently slated for release in December 2018 and has an estimated value between $5M-$10M.

Additional Agency Highlights

Other federal agencies are also contracting work within the Southern Region, only to a lesser extent than the aforementioned. Upcoming additional agency opportunities have been outlined in the below chart for further reference.

Agency	Opportunity	Title	Estimated Value	NAICS
Defense	173911	Program Management Support	$200M	541611
Defense	123305	Multiple Award Construction Contract MACC for Washington Headquarters Services	$63.6M*	236220
Justice	115696	Total Laboratory Information Management System Software Solution	TBD	541512
Homeland Security	97210	Applications Development, Engineering, and Sustainment	$350M*	541511
Homeland Security	149643	Remote Video Surveillance System and Integrated Fixed Towers for US Customs and Border Protection	$300M*	334511
HHS	164837	Multiple Award Construction Contract for Multiple Facilities in Maryland	$1B	236220
HHS	166369	Scientific Computing Support Services	$112M	541690
GSA	172927	Operations and Maintenance Program for the Central Heating and Refrigeration Plant	$20M	561210
GSA	161032	Enterprise Asset Management System	TBD	541519
Transportation	141133	Technical Support Services for Traffic Records Improvement Program Reporting System (TRIPRS)	$6.9M	541519

*Deltek estimate – subject to change

NAICS Breakdown

Analyzing the prevalence of certain NAICS codes across the Southern Region may lend additional insight into contracting trends. The below graph displays the top 10 NAICS codes reported in the roughly 4,300 identified active opportunities within the Southern Region across all federal agencies. 

Given the approximate 4,300 opportunities identified as currently active within the Southern Region of the United States, there is a high demand of requirements within this region. The NAICS codes 236220 and 541330 represent around 20.6% of the reported codes for these opportunities.  However, there are 250 unique NAICS codes represented in the overall data. The type of award breakdown for the total regional data is as follows: IDIQ accounts for around 31.6%, other with 36.6%, task/delivery orders at 11.8%, and a still undetermined type at around 20.1%. The wide ranging NAICS codes and anticipated type of awards makes the Southern Region’s contracting opportunities relevant for a wide range of vendors and individual capabilities.

 

 

**Data as reported via GovWin federal contracts and Opportunities databases