HSPD-12 updateGSA puts HSPD-12 cards out to bid (again)
Following the cancellation of BearingPoint’s $104 million contract, GSA asks eighteen companies to consider picking up the slack; 420,000 government employees to need cards; award expected in the second quarter of 2007, and winning company will have 90 days to begin production
Better late than never, we always say. The General Services Administration, which has taken on the burden of assisting small and understaffed federal agencies get their HSPD-12 ducks in a row, has issued a request for quotes from eighteen pre-qualified companies interested in supplying cards for the 420,000 government employees anticipated under the program. Although the contract’s value is not known, the winning bidder will be expected to begin producing the cards within 90 days of the award . The contract will be for a period of five years, with one base year followed by four one-year option periods. Agency officials expect to make an award to a single vendor late in the second quarter of fiscal 2007.
The decision comes following a GSA decision last fall not to exercise the remaining option years in a contract for end-to-end ID card services with BearingPoint. That deal, which was worth up to $104 million ($110 for each card, plus $52 in annual fees), was scuttled because GSA officials felt that improved competition in the sector could drive down the cost.
-read more in Daniel Pulliam GovExec report
