The General Services Administration sees a future so bright for health IT acquisition that it's getting its own Schedule 70 Special Item Number.
At a health IT breakfast hosted by the Professional Services Council on May 16, GSA officials outlined details of the new, standalone SINSpecial Item Number to provide health IT services to agencies within its IT acquisition platform.
IT Schedule 70 has become a hot business for GSA of late, with $14 billion in annual sales coming from the agency's largest acquisition vehicle for IT products and services.
Schedule 70 already offered health IT services, but the new SIN groups products and services for agencies to easily choose what they need in information technology.
Roya Konzman, GSA Senior Information Technology specialist, said that while the agency had always offered health IT services in Schedule 70, total spending on health IT is projected to hit $31.3 billion in 2017, warranting a spin-off number strictly for health care management.
"Our customer agencies were having a difficult time finding the health IT expertise that meets their requirements under our existing SIN," Roya Konzman, GSA Senior Information Technology specialist, she said. Heath IT spending is increasing in both the private and public sectors, with spending projects to hit $31.3 billion in 2017.
"They actually requested from us to find a way that they can get quality proposals from the experts that really know health IT. Also, for the last six years or so, we've seen a huge increase market for health IT."
The new health care SIN number, which agencies will use to purchase the services, is 132-56. GSA officials said the draft solicitation outlining the new category will be out, hopefully, this month. A final solicitation is expected to roll out sometime between June and July of this year.
GSA officials also outlined three of its new Making It Easier initiatives, which it debuted in April, to help speed up the acquisition process.
The Startup Springboard will provide innovative IT business an easier way to get onto Schedule 70 by substituting the two-year corporate experience requirement to become a contractor with project experience, as well as documentation of the financial responsibility in lieu of two years of statements.
The Schedule 70 Roadmap will serve as a user-centered resource for contractors to understand the acquisition process.
The FASt Lane project looks to speed up the Schedule 70 approval process for new and existing contractors, with contract actions process in 48 hours for existing contractors and up to 45 days for new offers.
For more information on the new health IT SIN or its new Schedule 70 initiatives, contractors can email GSA at healthit-sin@gsa.gov or call 877-446-4870.
