The Ultimate Guide to CHESS ITES Government Contract

As Army’s principal source for supporting Soldiers’ information dominance objectives, CHESS develops, manages, and implements contracts related to Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Information Technology.

What Does ITES CHESS (4H) Government Contract Offer?

The U.S Army has issued the scope through CHESS I.T. Enterprise Solutions-4 Hardware (ITES-4H), where the government agency will receive I.T. hardware, enterprise solutions, software, and maintenance services from I.T. Value-Added Resellers (VARs).

Providing the Army with network, hardware, and software, CHESS offers no-fee flexible contract vehicles, resulting in significant cost savings, which are then reallocated towards more critical requirements for Warfighters.

As a value proposition, CHESS focuses on serving the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Army Headquarters, the Information Systems Engineering Command (ISEC), the Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM), and Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI). Through these partnerships, CHESS can provide data center solutions that are standards-based, policies-compliant, and architecturally sound.

CHESS is also the Army’s Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) Software Product Manager

(SPM). The tasks involved in this area include consolidating software requirements and business case statements and helping contracting officers negotiate and administer the resulting agreements.

The Purpose of ITES CHESS (4H) Government Contract

As part of the task force responsible for the acquisition, logistics, and technology, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (OASALT), the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS), and Program Director, Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software, and Solutions (PD CHESS), approved ITES-4H, the fourth iteration of the ITES hardware (ITES-4).

6. ITES-4H acquisition provides innovative, world-class, affordable information technology equipment and solutions to support the Army’s enterprise infrastructure and information infrastructure goals.
7. Several Fixed Price Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contracts will be awarded under this solicitation. Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart, individual Firm Fixed Price delivery orders will be issued under the IDIQ contract with indefinite delivery.
8. Any orders placed in response to all contract awards made under this solicitation shall not exceed $10,000 million within ten years. The performance period is divided into a five-year base period and a five-year option period. According to the instructions outlined in the Request for Proposal (RFP) and award, each delivery order will be assigned a specific ordering clause.
9. A minimum of 17 IDIQ contracts will be awarded, with up to seven slated for Small Businesses, assuming seven Small Businesses are competitive. A government can establish no, one, or multiple awards. The government can also establish more than 17 awards.
10. Each offeror’s complete proposal will be assessed against the evaluation criteria before awarding the Contract.
11. This acquisition belongs to NAICS 334111, with a standard size of 1250 employees for small businesses. Small businesses must, however, have at least 500 employees if they submit an offer in their name but propose to furnish an item that they did not manufacture themselves.

How Can Small Businesses Prepare for ITES CHESS (4H) Contracts?

ITES-4H contracts are a part of numerous IT-related government contracts. So, to prepare your organization for such contracts, you need to follow an approach especially built to ensure your offerings are more persuasive than your competitors:

Identify your company’s niche or environment

Trying to do a lot of different things is going to create a lot of extra work for you and it will hurt you with potential customers. A small business cannot compete with everyone and do everything. So, pick one niche where you are going to focus if you want your business to be successful.

Conduct market research using the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS)

You need to do market research to make sure that the government is buying the products that you want to sell. That way when you enter the market, you’ll have a good revenue generating prospect.

Understand The Needs And Requirements Of The Organizations You Are Competing With

You can find out if subcontracting will help you reach or exceed your goals by reviewing the small business categories. Having a small business subcontracting plan is imperative if you do not already have one.

Understand The Goals Of Small Businesses

Your company’s goals shouldn’t be the only thing you know. Know your company’s and your primes’ small business goals as well.

Make The Most Of Teaming Opportunities

Small businesses can become more competitive by combining resources, management abilities, and technical knowledge through teaming.

Keep A Close Eye On The Past Performance Of Your Previous Acquisitions

Contracts are generally awarded to companies that have demonstrated previous performance, making past performance the second most important selection criterion after price.

Substantiate Your Contract Protest With Valid References

Identify up to five previous references. As long as your CPARS scores are favorable or better, you should be able to provide references for at least three large IDIQ contracts. Take the contracts as a reference and map your orders to the various ITES-4H catalogs.

You can also use your narrative portions on the questionnaires. In the absence of multiple, large IDIQ prime contracts, map as many of the seven ITES-4H catalogs as you can to previous large orders you completed as a prime or first-tier subcontractor.