BGOV Top 20: Army Issues Second RFI for $4B IT Hardware Contract

The U.S Army released a second request for information (RFI) on Jan. 26 for its five-year, $4 billion Common Hardware Systems 6th Generation (CHS-6) contract.

CHS-6, the follow-on to the $3.9 billion single-award CHS-5 contract held by General Dynamics, is the subject of this week’s Bloomberg Government Top 20 Opportunities. The contract will continue to deliver commercial IT hardware, commercial-off-the-shelf items and services. The contract will primarily serve requirements at the Army, but is available for use to other federal government agencies.

The purpose of the Jan. 26 RFI is to continue to gauge industry interest and announce an industry day as the Army develops a CHS-6 acquisition strategy. A previous RFI was released Feb. 2020. The government has yet to establish an estimated value or performance period. Bloomberg Government is predicting a 5-year, $4 billion value, for CHS-6 based on the incumbent details.

Among proposed changes from the previous performance work statement are:

• Removal of the requirement to deliver contractor-ruggedized commercial IT hardware
• Require the contractor to possess the capability to ruggedize hardware, which will be offered through a task order
• Removal of the requirement to provide design and engineering support as part of the technology Insertion process.
• Require the contractor to possess the capability to provide design and engineering support, which would be a service offered to customers to purchase through a task order.

CHS-5 is a single award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract using firm fixed-price delivery orders and firm fixed-price and cost plus fixed-fee task orders, but the new RFI indicates the government may pursue CHS-6 as a multiple award contract. The government is also considering a small business set aside for a portion of CHS-6.

The government will provide more details at an industry day scheduled to take place by March 30. The event will provide industry with a better understanding of the CHS mission and future requirements planned to support Army and federal agencies. Once a date is established, the Army plans to release a read-ahead slide deck approximately one week prior to the presentation.

The incumbent contract, held General Dynamics.Corp., was awarded in Sept. 2018. The company has received $1.04 billion in obligations on 437 task orders with an average value of $2.2 million. That contract ends in Aug. of 2023. In addition to CHS-5, General Dynamics has held three predecessor contracts since fiscal 2002 and received a total of $6.3 billion in obligations to date.

No subcontracts are reported. The Army accounts for nearly all spending with some minor obligations reported at Navy, Air Force, and Defense Logistics Agency.

What’s Ahead

Bloomberg Government will continue to monitor the possibility of CHS-6 being competed as a multiple-award contract. The government has stated its intent to expand small businesses utilization. In order to do so the government would likely have to award contracts to one or more small business and compete orders through set-asides. Another option could be to maintain the single-award contract structure and more strictly enforce subcontract goals of the prime contractor.

Companies interested in an upcoming bid on CHS-6 can click here to set a solicitation alert to be notified about upcoming announcements or release of a final RFP or click here to analyze incumbent work at the task order level.

Responses to the RFI are due Feb. 16.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Levinson in Washington, D.C. at rlevinson@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Clark at mclark@ic.bloombergindustry.com