The General Services Administration has awarded 102 vendors positions on the small business pool of the Polaris governmentwide acquisition contract, or GWAC, for IT products and services.
GSA released the list of awardees on the Polaris GWAC Small Business Pool in a notice published Monday on SAM.gov.
“As a result of this award, agencies can now achieve their socioeconomic goals and meet stringent federal compliance and security requirements for IT, while working with some of the best and most creative small IT companies,” Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner for the Office of IT Category at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said in a statement published Monday.
“I look forward to seeing the body of innovation that results from the Polaris GWAC and the continued success of the awarded small businesses,” added Stanton.
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What Is Polaris GWAC?
Polaris GWAC seeks to provide federal agencies a platform to acquire artificial intelligence, automation, immersive technology, distributed ledger technology, edge computing and other emerging technologies and IT services from vetted small businesses to meet their tech requirements.
The contract has four set-aside pools: small business; women-owned small business, or WOSB; Historically Underutilized Business Zone, or HUBZone; and service-disabled veteran-owned small business, or SDVOSB.
With Polaris, GSA intends to broaden the industry partner base, simplify proposal submission requirements, provide greater access to emerging technologies and improve the customer experience.
In September 2022, GSA issued requests for proposals for the contract vehicle’s HUBZone and SDVOSB pools.
The agency said Monday it plans to announce the awardees on the contract’s WOSB, HUBZone and SDVOSB pools later in fiscal year 2025.
RFP for Polaris GWAC Small Business Pool
In March 2022, GSA initially released the RFPs for small business and WOSB pools but decided to pause the solicitations to allow for a review following receipt of feedback regarding the evaluation of joint ventures under the contract.
Three months later, a solicitation was reissued for the Polaris Small Business pool after GSA integrated changes to submission requirements for relevant experience concerning JVs and mentor-protege arrangements.