The Environmental Protection Agency is doubling down on agile development with the creation of an Agile Software Development Services blanket purchase agreement (BPA) — a collection of pre-competed contracts to help the agency move from a traditional development process to more iterative methods.
"Currently, many agency IT software development vehicles are built to support waterfall development processes," according to the request for proposals. "This requirement is meant to help EPA develop, implement and maintain IT products and services that will provide the most value for EPA and its stakeholders by using methods that support modular, iterative and flexible development practices using agile methodologies."
Industry Day: Agile Software Development Services
EPA is now planning to hold an industry day for July 27 to talk with vendors about the requirements and resolve any concerns over how the contract will be managed. Interested parties are urged to sign up for the industry day by July 25.
The $200 million, five-year, multivendor BPA focuses on four functional areas: mobile apps; web-based apps; commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product customization or update; and new system development. EPA plans to award spots on four separate BPA — one for each functional area — that together will constitute the Agile Software Development Services vehicle.
The mobile app BPA will likely be set aside fully for small business while the other three will be a mix.
Once a task order is issued on a BPA, the winning vendor will be required to work in two-week-long sprints, bringing projects from minimal-viable-products to fully capable systems while in use by EPA employees.
Agile and iterative development has been a prime focus of EPA CIO Ann Dunkin.
"We look at the employment of agile methodologies in all acquisition and portfolio reviews and our implementation plan includes standing up a fellowship program that will bring agile skill sets to EPA IT projects," Dunkin told Federal Times during an interview in June. "'Agile' cannot simply become another word that is included in FITARA reviews to get an acquisition approval; it is a methodology that must be taught, modeled and demonstrate its success."
18F — the innovation team at GSA that has been a leader on development techniques like agile — built a similar agile BPA last year.
The first task order on that vehicle came from the Federal Risk Authorization and Management Program (FedRAMP), seeking a contractor to build a public-facing dashboard showing the program's progress.
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
