“Seal of the United States Department of Homeland Security”, by DHS, https://www.dhs.gov/, Licensed under Public domain
The Department of Homeland Security has decided to cancel the FirstSource III and PACTS III contract vehicles for IT support and professional services, respectively, in alignment with recent executive orders.
In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to consolidate federal procurement of goods and services within the General Services Administration to eliminate waste and duplication. The EO also calls for GSA to be designated the executive agent for all IT governmentwide acquisition contracts.
According to notices published Friday on SAM.gov, DHS analyzed active contract awards and solicitations to evaluate “mission-criticality and continued needs” and determined FirstSource III and PACTS III as “non-mission critical” contracts that would provide redundant offerings through existing GSA solutions.
The DHS notice includes the termination of all awards under the FirstSource III contract’s IT value-added reseller, or ITVAR, functional category and cancellation of the solicitation and evaluation of bids submitted for software through the vehicle’s second category.
The department said it will continue to leverage NASA’s Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement, or SEWP, contract and existing GSA vehicles for future IT requirements.
In September 2024, DHS announced the small business awardees on the FirstSource III’s ITVAR category.
FirstSource III is a potential 10-year, $10 billion multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for IT hardware, software, value-added reseller and IT managed services. The IDIQ contract is a total small business set-aside program with five set-aside tracks for 8(a), HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned, women-owned and all small businesses.
According to the solicitation, ITVAR includes all commercial off-the-shelf IT hardware and equipment, including small form factor, static, domain, virtual desktop infrastructure and peripheral devices.
PACTS III
In a separate notice, DHS canceled the evaluation of offers submitted under the solicitation for the third iteration of the Program Management, Administrative, Clerical and Technical Services, or PACTS III, contract.
To support its requirements for the services, the department intends to use existing contracts, such as GSA’s One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services Plus, or OASIS Plus, and GSA Multiple Award Schedules.
In February 2024, DHS started soliciting offers for the PACTS III vehicle, which is designed to enable the department and its components to acquire professional services and other commercial offerings to meet their mission objectives.
According to the solicitation, PACTS III is a suite of departmentwide, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with an aggregate ceiling value of $8.4 billion and could be used to procure services in three functional categories: administrative and general management consulting services; office administrative services; and engineering services.
PACTS III is a set-aside program for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, women-owned small businesses, Historically Underutilized Business Zones and 8(a) businesses. It has a performance period of 15 years and a maximum ordering period of 10 years.