FAA-SAVES Contracts and VARStreet – An Overview

For businesses providing hardware and software frameworks, this is the opportunity to venture forward and expand into large scale contract fulfillment within their niche. Through this contract, smaller businesses offer FAA a wide scope of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) cutting edge technology. This means only the best of the best make it through and provide the best possible products on the market from leading manufacturers including Cisco, Dell, EMC, F5, HPE and others.

In order to secure this contract, it is imperative to understand what it represents, what fulfilment requirements are and how to juggle both delivery and existing capabilities to result in a successfully completed government contract. We begin by understanding what the FAA-SAVES Contract really is;

What is FAA SAVES?

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Strategic Sourcing for the Acquisition of Various Equipment and Supplies (SAVES) is an indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract around the mandatory procurement of IT services and solutions for all business pertaining to the FAA, its subsidiaries and all personnel related to the same. The Division of Transportation also falls under the FAA-SAVES requirements with needs fulfilled through the same.

FAA SAVES contractors are able to come together with FAA IT teams in order to comprehensively understand the state of existing secure innovations and implement solutions with minimum down/turnover time and offer an array of benefits to the organization. A key point of resolution surrounds ensuring the smooth flow of day to day activities while meeting organizational technology goals.

    The contract is strongly beneficial to the FAA as;

• The contract unites and normalizes organization wide purchasing
• It widens the scope of items accessible to the government and offers the administration to adequately research and investigate
• There are strong protocols in place around evaluation and limitations
• The process to procure imperative resources is quick, easy and transparent
• It maximizes online purchasing to allow for ease of access to better quality, better quantities and maintenance of consistency

The SAVES contract with the FAA offers a streamlined cycle for the acquisition of mission critical items and apparatus. The items in question are key to keeping costs down and enabling the administration to adequately conduct activities. Classifications under SAVES include office fundamentals, office gear, conveyance administrations, data innovation equipment and software, janitorial and disinfection administration, upkeep, fixes and tasks along while stretching to airplane navigational outlining administrations.

As of February 1st, 2020 all merchants involved with FAA contracts are unable to see further opportunities on the FAA contracting opportunities (FAACO) website. All FAA Contract openings will be listed on the beta.SAM.gov site. Ensure before applying for any opportunities all the compliance clauses listed below are met.

Various FAA-SAVES Programs

While contractual opportunities may not be as transparent, the FAA offers smaller niches for organizations of all sizes to apply through. These are;

• Mentor/Protege Program

The FAA Mentor-Protégé Program was planned to breathe life into large scale firms and motivate smaller ones to apply for FAA contracts. Independent ventures, Small Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Businesses, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Institutions, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, and Women-Owned Small Businesses are qualified. The objective is to encourage long term business connections amidst both large and small scale firms and expand the overall number of firms compliant with FAA-SAVES requirements.

• Electronic FAA and Simplified Tasks (eFast)

The FAA requested arrangements (MOA) with various independent ventures, including ladies possessed, 8(a)- affirmed, administration handicapped veteran-claimed, and socially and monetarily distraught organizations in order to offer insight around administration and designing while offering specialized help administrations. The eFAST program is a multi-year MOA program and a favored contracting vehicle to meet private venture goals and objectives.

• Receive A Research Grant

The FAA Technical Center in Atlantic, New Jersey works on exploration awards programs. Awards are offered for research, and not government contracts. This is despite the conveyance of a particular item, have the adaptability to permit the beneficiary and the opportunity to investigate research ideas that give the most inventive outcomes.

• Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR)

The legal reason for the SBIR Program reinforces jobs of inventive independent ventures is worries around Federally-subsidized exploration, and innovative work (R/R&D). The SBIR Program is a staged cycle, uniform to the Federal Government. The process involves requesting propositions and granting financing arrangements for R/R&D to meet organization needs or missions. The Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center coordinates DOT’s SBIR Program and all exercises needed under the SBIR law and execute the approach set up by the Small Business Administration.

• Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE)

The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program is executed by beneficiaries of DOT Federal Financial Assistance. Beneficiaries are fundamentally public roadway, travel, and air terminal offices that get reserves subject to Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations section 26 (49 CFR 26). A comparable program (49 CFR 23) for air terminal concession DBEs (ACDBE), is commanded by 49 U.S.C. 47107(e). The ACDBE program was initially ordered in 1987 and most as of late corrected in 2012.

The overall staffing capabilities of the FAA administration extended to over 1000 offices spaced across the US, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Saipan and the Marshall Islands. The National Airspace System (NAS) holds over 60,000 operational entities. In tandem, both governing bodies ensure aviation authority and administrative control functions run seamlessly with through the sourcing of adequate hardware, frameworks and supplies provided. The sheer number of offices explains the magnitude of the contract even if fulfilment is for a single requirement.

What Prospective Contractors Should Know

Contract Management Features

• General Requirements

The contractor is obligated to offer printers and multi-functional gadgets to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at their nine regional offices, two centers, at their headquarters and any other FAA dominant areas along with the Department of Transportation and all their concerned geographies.

• Asset Tagging

The contractor is to provide an approved asset tag or barcode label to all multifunctional devices and printers purchased under the agreement.

• Product Recalls

Should there be concerns around the items provided by the contractor by either the contractor, purchaser, controller or court involving deformities, serious concerns around product performance, or simply that the features and quality do not adhere to the same outlined within the agreement, the merchandise must be reworked and/or reviewed. The contractor must immediately introduce all the important surrounding facts to the FAA and all other purchasers. Additionally the contractor must implement every possible corrective action needed to restructure the products to fit the requirements at hand. All actions taken must be recorded and shared in order to avoid the FAA or other purchases from taking legal action.

It is imperative that the contractor carry out all needed repairs and modifications at their own expense unless agreed on with the FAA or other purchasers.

• Property Rights

Contractors are not allowed in any capacity to share or sell any information created from the agreement. Upon closure of the contract, all information developed over the course of the endeavour must be handed over to the FAA or purchaser in a structure deemed appropriate and controlled by the governing bodies.

• Equipment Maintenance Agreements

Contractors are to introduce an annual maintenance/service contract along with the equipment to ensure operation as designated and component maintenance as per manufacturer specifications. Contractors should provide pricing structures to cover month to month maintenance on both highs and lows and varying levels of support offered.

• Access to Government Facilities

Access to any and all government facilities will be coordinated with the COTR. Contractor personnel at government facilities are to adhere to the rules and regulations of the site. Planning authorized access to any government facility will be heavily influenced by the government itself. All facilities will make themselves available and be booked for the durations needed to successfully complete all clauses within the contract.

Contractors will be held liable for acquiring security clearances, holding identification badges and other peripheral items in order to allow deliveries to mentioned areas including specified workplaces, rooms inside government buildings and offices. While within the government facilities, contractor personnel are required to maintain their identification badges that clarify their non-government employee status. Identifications will be offered by the contractor unless otherwise specified.

• Data and Information Confidentiality

The contractor and any/all subcontractors are expected to receive access and rights to use sensitive information that is the rightful information of the government and government agencies. Under these circumstances all data and information must be confined to use only within designated conditions predetermined by the government. Should the activities hold a negative nature and could lead to an antagonistic impact on government and agreement goals the contractor agrees to stand subject to remedial measures. As a preventative protocol, within the agreement it is mentioned that contractors and subcontractors consent to the prohibition of;

i) Intentional discussion of information and data with others sans written approval from the contracting officer, unless the Government has allowed for the information to be accessed by the general public.

ii) Use of information and data for any reason that lies outside the contract and contains prohibitive stamping or legends.

• Restrictions around Printing and Duplication

The Congressional Joint Committee on Printing has instituted that despite contractors offering hardware and software services, they will not be the prime sources of printing for the government. Nonetheless, duplication of reports, information or any material in and around the contractual agreement will not surpass recreation of 5000 units or any one page and 25,000 units in total of different pages. Duplication is not permitted to the contractor under any conditions that exceed more than one color copy, contract negatives and pages exceeding the size of 10.75 x 14.25 inches.

Limitations are not inclusive of the composition, editing, planning, reproducible copy or incidental printing needed/utilized by the performance of the agreement. Materials printed must be fitted with the required criteria for circulation or will be prohibited. Upon project completion the Contractor must surrender all information including typed text on one side, line drawings, photos, camera prepared copies offset for printing and information in virtual formats including on MS Word, Powerpoint and/or Excel.

• Legal Holidays and Administrative Leave

Deliveries will not be accepted on days the Federal Government is closed for observance of national holidays detailed as;

1. New Year’s Day – January 1st
2. Martin Luther King’s Birthday – 3rd Monday in January
3. Presidents Day – 3rd Monday in February
4. Memorial Day – Last Monday in May
5. Independence Day- July 4th
6. Labor Day – 1st Monday in September
7. Columbus Day – 2nd Monday in October
8. Veteran’s Day – November 11th
9. Thanksgiving Day – 4th Thursday in November
10. Christmas Day – December 35th
11. Other days assigned by Federal rule, executive order or presidential decree
12. Technical Requirements

• Product Description and Model Performance Level

Contractor must be able to provide the end to end requirements for office hardware that will incorporate printers and multifunctional devices. The items must be verifiably new. The contractor must ensure all equipment is on par or better than particulars stated around all six common printer configurations and around each of seven MFD configurations. All hardware must maintain uniform quality with strong performance. The contractor is required to offer detailed Product Specification Sheets for all prescribed items sold under the agreement. The table listed below offers requirements for printers and MFD designs;

• Mandatory Purchasing

Once the contract is awarded to a contractor, they must put frameworks in place to maintain consistency across the following buying requisites;

1. The contractor must show all high-energy consuming products and systems that are Energy Star enrolled.
2. All electronic information technology (EIT) items should maintain compliance around Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Should there be a point of redirection pushed by the FAA, the contractor must obstruct specific items considered restricted from the purchase by FAA staff.

• Methods for Purchase

After 30 days of the contract award, the supplier is to acknowledge orders from approved organization personnel through modified/customized web/online interfaces, electronic information exchange through email and/or by phone. Contractors must note;

1. Purchases while using/without using a Government Purchase Card : The contractor must acknowledge the government commercial purchase card (P-Card) from approved FAA faculty and purchase orders from the officials assigned the same. Approved personnel with a substantial P-Card and fitting FAA prefix are subject to first level service approval. Purchases conducted without a P-Card must be blocked by the contractor with the information around the same relayed to the FAA assigned purchasing official.
2. Tax Exemption Status: Any and all purchases made under this contract will maintain tax exempt status. A valid tax exemption certificate is offered to the supplier to maintain records over the course of the agreement.
3. Order Confirmation: Within 24 hours of the order requested through email or phone call, the contractor must offer a confirmation to the individual requesting the same that includes the order number, a list of all items to be ordered, quantities, costs, expenses and the projected date of delivery.
4. Delivery Tracking: 72 hours post receipt of any request, the contractor must contract the required personnel with information around the shipping process, tracking information, the shipping address and possible shipping date in order to maintain clarity.
5. Substitute Payment Options: Within a year of the contract successfully initiated, the supplier must create and execute an FAA approved automated framework to process invoices for orders. This can be set through web/online interfaces, adding different payment methods outside the P-Card such as EDI (Electronic Data Interchange).
6. Protocol for Web Interface or Internet Orders: The contractor is to furnish a secure web-based interface for FAA clients to initiate orders. The supplier is to offer a safe site address for the online interface. The interface must be accessible around the clock and must meet all required degrees of security. The web-based interface must include the following;

i) Exclusive use by only FAA personnel

ii) Acknowledgement orders from approved and enrolled FAA clients

iii) Allowing all clients to include CO’s in order to conduct online reviews of delivery   alternatives, order history, lead time, stock level and order status.

iv) Detailed product information including pricing and pictures where possible.

v) Shopping cart features, including but not limited to saving, buying, sent to approver

vi) Distinguish clearly between EPEAT/ENERGY STAR compliant items

vii) Grant order payment ability to verified individuals with government purchasing cards or pre-approved account numbers

viii) Instant order confirmation at checkout

ix) Technical and program assistance through phone and virtual client support groups.

1. EDI and/or Email Orders: The contractor must acknowledge all orders through EDI using the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) x 12 Standard or offering an email address clients can communicate with to understand where orders are located at any moment and at any time of the year. The contractor must also acknowledge email orders including electronic spreadsheets or data sets incorporating items, amounts, delivery areas and purchase order data.
2. Phone Orders: Contractors must provide a toll-free number that is reachable across weekdays and within strong boundaries of business hours (in Eastern Time). Contractors must also offer an alternative phone number to enable accessibility during the same and oblige TTY’s usefulness.
3. Partial Orders: Contractors must advise any verified individual submitting incomplete orders as soon as the same comes in. Information around a course of action including how the balance will be transported should be offered. It is then up to the client to decide whether or not to cancel the item or allow for the later delivery date. Orders not including general prerequisites and transportation necessities will run late and offer negative reviews even around the products delivered on time.
4. Returns: Products that are used to fulfil order terms that arrive in a damaged condition fall under the contractors liability and obligation. Wherever possible, ordered items received in an unsatisfactory condition must be remedied at the earliest and at the contractor’s cost. This falls outside the scope of outlined delivery times.

How To Land The FAA SAVES Government Contract

The US government has gained recognition for not faltering around internal service provision even at times of financial discomfort. The authority spends billions of dollars annually financing indispensable professionals and skills ranging from janitorial to engineering. Securing a government contract offers businesses the ability to elevate themselves from smaller scale business opportunities and build a strong reputation around product delivery, quality and professionalism.

Government contracts often bear aggressive and stringent requirements that can be a little intimidating at first glance. However, it is important for contractors to keep in mind the number of long term benefits introduced by successful completion including timely payments, validation of professional reputation and stronger future prospects to secure similar government contracts.

It is imperative to the success of the project for the business to understand its abilities, where tools/staff can be scaled up and where realistic concerns lie.

Other than that, there are five key points of consideration every business must incorporate in order to successfully land and complete an FAA-SAVES contract;

• The System for Award Management

In order for a business to become eligible to apply for government tenders, the business must be comprehensively registered with the SAM (System for Award Management) and categorized under authoritarian government contractual workers. This puts the business into the database of contractual workers and allows them to begin bidding. Visiting the SAM website will offer any required clarification around the process.

• Targeting Government Agencies

Understanding business capabilities is critical to not only completing a government contract but segregating what contracts can be completed. Businesses must objectively identify strengths and weaknesses and streamline a short list of government agencies whose contracts can be successfully and enthusiastically completed. Government agencies range across all industries and at any scale (Federal, State, Local), this allows any business to stand a chance at winning the large scale contracts and helps concentrate efforts instead of over committing and under performing.

• Collaboration

   Collaboration is a frequently used tool within business communities and government contracting is no different. Businesses that work with other heavy hitters within their industry are likely to not only produce stronger results but offer a more diverse profile. Companies that have already established themselves as reliable to deliver on government contracts working with a new business, allows the new business to ride off their reputation and make them more likely to score a government contract. Additionally, monitoring who is constantly winning government contracts may be a good place to start looking for strong businesses to build with.

• Networking

The employees of the US government, like any individuals, enjoy social time and company. For both nascent and veteran businesses, making friends with the right people within the government could prove extremely fruitful. These individuals are tasked with bid assessment and could be the difference between approval and restarting the process with a different contact.

• Humble Beginnings

Should federal contracts seem intimidating, do not be afraid to move to more state or local projects. Starting small could help build organizational confidence and allow businesses to demonstrate their capabilities without running high stake risks. Businesses competing for more modest contracts at larger capacities are not only more likely to win the same but successfully complete the projects as well.

The Right Partner to Support You – VARStreet

Landing that government contract also requires a strong backend solution facilitating the same. For businesses at any experience level, introducing components with strong experience around government delivery could be the difference between fulfilment and failure. VARStreet offes a solid end to end bid support package for Government VARs. The platform has seen a number of government contracts succeed at varying levels including both state and local while some of the largest federal contractors use VARStreet as their premier choice. Some of these industry heavy hitters include; DHS FirstSource, Netcents, SEWP, DHS Eagle ITES and ECS.

VARStreet offers a number of features to make the bidding process simpler with;

• Strong around the clock support in the form of a dedicated support team member that works closely with the supplier to understand RFI, RFQ and RFP requirements.
• A team of inhouse engineers able to modify or enhance any requirements or requests for a contract and ensure the process is completed quickly and comprehensively. All compliance requirements are met with strength and diligence.
• Compliance verification, which can get a little difficult to handle on one’s own. VARStreet offers EPEAT, 508 compliances and other Green compliance data. The platform also supports GSA schedules and BPA.

VARStreet was crafted to ensure unique requirements of government contracts are met and VARs stay well educated. A large number of organizations have employed VARStreet due to additional features that make the platform simple to use including;