GSA awards governmentwide contracts for human resources technology
Agencies will compete with private companies for federal business.
The General Services Administration awarded contracts to three systems integrators at the end of December that will support agencies' human resources IT management initiatives. Private companies will bid for work against five federal agencies also offering governmentwide HR shared services.
In March 2004, the Office of Management and Budget initiated a governmentwide analysis of five lines of business supporting the President's Management Agenda goal to expand electronic government. The Human Resources Line of Business requires agencies to use governmentwide technological solutions for basic HR functions to cut costs and improve efficiency and customer support.
"OMB does not want to duplicate HR systems already in place," said Joe Jeu, assistant commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service Office of General Supplies and Services. "All agencies are moving into shared service platform, and there will not be additional funds to upgrade current systems."
According to a May 2007 memorandum released by OMB, agencies are no longer allowed to spend money to develop, modernize or enhance internal HR management systems. Rather, OMB asked agencies to outsource the maintenance and operations of the HR systems to a public or private sector shared service center. Under OPM and OMB's consultation, the agency awarded multiple schedule contracts on Dec. 21 to Accenture National Security Services and Carahsoft Technology Corp., both based in Reston, Va., and Allied Technology Group in Rockville, Md., which will act as public shared service centers. In 2005, OMB and the Office of Personnel Management authorized the Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Interior, and Treasury departments to act as public shared service centers.
The agencies and companies will offer agencies the required core services that are transactional, such as payroll, personnel and benefits action management, time and leave, and bonus and monetary awards, as well as nonmandatory core services, such as employee management and labor relations.
GSA will continue to accept proposals for contracts from companies that will be reviewed on an annual basis. The number of contracts awarded is not known, Jeu said, nor is the potential value and duration of the contracts, which will be listed as special item numbers for Schedule 738 under the Multiple Award Schedules Program.
"Unlike other schedules, vendors were required to go through operational capability demonstration tests [where they] performed live transactions, and evaluation teams were brought in from other agencies as well as GSA," Jeu said. "Those that passed the tests were then put through other technical and functional reviews. The process was very rigorous."