The Defense Information Systems Agency's massive Encore III contract is on track for a request for proposals release in December, according to Doug Packard, DISA procurement executive.
"We had an industry day about a month ago, and there were so many attendees had to have a morning session and an afternoon session," Packard said Nov. 2 at the agency's annual Forecast to Industry event in Washington, D.C. "We've accelerated the review process…I expect it still in the December time frame, it's my desire to have the RFP out to industry then."
Encore III encompasses 20 different performance areas under the umbrella of IT services and is a follow-on to the $12-billion-ceiling Encore II contract that expires in 2018. DISA officials didn't give a figure for Encore III, but sources have put the number as high as more than $17 billion over 10 years.
The RFP has seen some delays as DISA officials wrangle the complexities of providing evolving IT services under a massive, long-term contract that must be able to accommodate emerging technologies. Much has changed even since Encore II's release, a fact that's reflected, to begin with, in the performance areas of Encore III.
"The performance areas are consistent across the board except we've added cyber, mobility and cloud as performance area capability for services to be provided," Packard said. "It's so large and the performance areas are so broad it takes multiple pages to describe what each of those performance areas are."
Packard said that DISA officials are still hashing out the small-business and full-and-open-competition pieces of the RFP, pending market research.
Encore III will include a range of IT services such as technical support, program management and some more specialized areas such as systems administration and data administration, Alfred Rivera, director of DISA's Development and Business Center, told C4ISR & Networks earlier this year.
MORE: See our complete DISA Forecast to Industry Show Reporter.
