Learn more about doing business with ORAU under the OASIS+ contract on our contracting page.
Accessing trusted partners can create challenges for government agencies. Not all companies are accessible or eligible on all government contracting vehicles.
ORAU has a couple of contract vehicles in place to meet the professional services and human capital needs of the government. In this blog, I’ll be talking about the OASIS+ (One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services) contract vehicle and how it can be used to access ORAU as a trusted partner in government mission work.
Why government contracting vehicles are needed
So, what do we mean when we talk about government contracting vehicles?
In the government space, a contracting vehicle is a pre-arranged agreement that streamlines the process of purchasing goods or services from approved vendors, like ORAU.
Not all companies can compete on every available contract vehicle. Some contracting vehicles are agency- or department-specific. Some companies offer very niche skills or capabilities that do not meet all the requirements to be eligible for a contracting vehicle, but nonetheless have a skill set critical to an agency’s mission. Government contracting officers and the contract business owners face challenges in finding the right companies to be trusted partners and fulfill the agency’s mission needs.
The General Services Administration (GSA) manages the OASIS+ contracting vehicle.
What is General Services Administration? IDIQ? OASIS +?
The General Services Administration (GSA), an independent agency of the federal government that manages the basic purchasing function of other government agencies, has several vehicles available that reach a broad array of companies available to do business with the government.
The OASIS+ contracting vehicle is made up of six best-in-class government-wide multiple-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts with small business and unrestricted designations. Each IDIQ has eight domains, or categories/areas, of related services. Agencies can work with GSA to release a task order under the appropriate IDIQ and domain area. A task order is a document that outlines specific tasks and requirements for project or service deliverables to an agency. Under OASIS+, agencies across the government have access to top-tier companies, like ORAU, that have been pre-selected by the GSA for each of the eight available project or service categories under an IDIQ.
IDIQ contracts have eight domains.
ORAU’s services are available under the OASIS+ Unrestricted (UR) IDIQ in the Management and Advisory (MA) domain, which allows us to provide a total solution for government needs in key areas where we have strong capabilities and expertise.
Benefits of using OASIS+ to access ORAU as a trusted partner
Leveraging OASIS+ for service-based needs can streamline an agency’s procurement process as agencies can perform the acquisition with a Delegation of Procurement Authority or GSA can perform the acquisition on behalf of the agency through an Inter-Agency Agreement. GSA can even support market research when agencies use OASIS+. In an environment where efficiency is required, this can save agencies some of the workload in competing contracts for integrated total solution services needs.
OASIS+ supports all contract types, including hybrid single-task orders with a mix of contract types. OASIS+ provides agencies the flexibility to determine fair and reasonable pricing based on the needs and requirements being procured. There are standardized labor categories available for agencies to use, but they are not required. OASIS+ Unrestricted is a full and open-competition IDIQ contract. However, agencies may solicit competition or sole source procurement under OASIS+ using the statutory exemptions to the fair opportunity process (e.g. urgency, only one source, etc.) as identified in FAR 16.505(b)(2).
So, if the government wants to access ORAU’s services, the OASIS+ contract makes that a very simple, streamlined and efficient possibility. To do business with ORAU under the OASIS+ contract, contact Dave Heys at dave.heys@orau.org or Brenda Blunt, DHA, MSN, RN at Brenda.blunt@orau.org.