DHS Says It Will Move Ahead With FirstSource III: Top 20

By Paul Murphy

The Department of Homeland Security plans to issue a follow-on to its FirstSource II contract, according to a July 15 announcement by DHS chief procurement officer, Soraya Correa. The follow-on, FirstSource III, is the focus of this week’s Top 20 Opportunities.

FirstSource II has been DHS’s preferred vehicle for acquiring IT commodities and related value-added reseller (VAR) services since it was awarded in fiscal 2012. Purchases under the contract are primarily IT equipment such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, and printers. FirstSource also provides access to some services and software.

To date, DHS has spent nearly $2.7 billion through FirstSource II on 41 contracts held by 31 small businesses, which have received an average of $85 million a piece over the last seven years. Among the small businesses, spending has concentrated on Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) companies ($1.2 billion) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSBs, $735 million).

The leading FirstSource II vendors are Panamerica Computers ($374 million), Government Acquisitions Inc. ($252 million) and Blue Tech Inc. ($227 million).

By the time FirstSource II ends in December 2022, spending through the contract is expected to reach a ceiling of $3 billion, which may make an extension probable if FirstSource III is not awarded in time.

According to DHS, details about the scope of work and the timing of the solicitation’s release are still in discussion. But the announcement mentions two significant pieces of information:

  • FirstSource III will offer set-aside tracks across five major socio-economic business categories. For FirstSource II, these were Historically Under-Utilized Business Zone (HUBZone) companies; 8(a) businesses; Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs); Economically Disadvantaged Small Woman-owned Businesses (EDSWOBs); and Small Businesses (SBs).
  • FirstSource III will conform to Office of Management and Budget guidelines on Category Management. Category Management guidelines refer to competitive, pricing, transparency, performance metrics and other measures designed to insure agencies receive best value from the contracts they award. Whether DHS will seek formal Best-In-Class contract designation for FirstSource III is unclear at this time.

Using BGOV

Clients can use Bloomberg Government tools to track FirstSource spending and identify re-compete opportunities from task orders that may be transitioning from FirstSource II to FirstSource III. For saved searches for spending in FirstSource II’s five designated socioeconomic categories:

  • Click here for spending with HUBZone businesses; the ordering period expires on Sept. 15, 2020.
  • Click here for spending in the 8(a) category; the ordering period expires on Sept. 26, 2020.
  • Click here for Service-disabled, Veteran-owned Small Business spending (SDVOSB); the ordering period expires on Nov. 24, 2020.
  • Click here for spending with Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (EDWOSB); the ordering period expires on Jan. 6, 2021.
  • Click here for spending in the Small Business (SB) category; the ordering period expires on Jan. 6, 2021.

To contact the analyst: Paul Murphy in Washington at pmurphy@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Snyder at dsnyder@bgov.com; Jodie Morris at jmorris@bgov.com

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