Government Contractors

Solutions to Meet Government Contract Requirements and Earn Points Towards Winning Government Contracts

Every year, the U.S. government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on contracts with private companies. In fact, the U.S. government is the country's largest purchaser of goods and services ($438.8 billion in FY15). Many of these purchases are made under large government contracting vehicles via requests for procurement (RFP).

In many cases, in order to win this RFP process government contractors need to obtain the highest point score possible (in some cases being certified in the standard is required). The individual RFPs identify a number of items for scoring that range from cost accounting systems to industry certifications (e.g. ISO standards) to security clearance.

While RFPs are scored differently, it’s clear that the General Services Administration (GSA) has come to favor points-based acquisitions, which place a premium on quality-based certifications, such as ISO 9001, 20000 and 27001. If we take the recent Alliant 2 Small Business government contracting vehicle as an example, it has a $15 billion ceiling on the small side and a $50 billion ceiling on the large side. As you take a look at GSA’s scoring sheet and think about all the competitors who will be pursuing this opportunity, you may ask yourself, “What are our chances of winning a portion of this contract vehicle?”

Fortunately, you may have noticed in the GSA’s Document Verification and Self Scoring Worksheet that ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 are all listed in this RFP for 1,500 points apiece. This is neither a new occurrence nor an anomaly. The Army, the GSA and the VA have put a premium on ISO quality certifications as evidenced in numerous task orders and in the VA VETS 2 IDIQ, the Army ITES 3S IDIQ and the Alliant 2 GWAC.

When looking at recent solicitations, it’s clear that the government’s emphasis on increased quality and reduced risk has only continued to strengthen. In order to position your company for success on upcoming IDIQs and RFPs, more ISO certifications can only help.

As your organization positions itself for IDIQS and GWACs, such as COMET, SSES NexGen, TSS-E Mission Support Services and the GSA Oasis Pool 2 on-ramp, do not wait until the RFP hits the street to enhance your ISO certifications.

ISMS Solutions works with an extensive range of government contractors inside and outside the beltway, so we are highly skilled at assisting government contractors implement ISO standards so you obtain certification from an accredited certifying body on-time and on budget. ISMS Solutions has simplified the implementation process for most ISO standards including ISO 9001, ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 while meeting all the requirements of the standard. Our specialized turn-key solutions will help you meet contract requirements – whether you are bidding on new contracts or need to maintain certification to retain a contract – in an affordable and timely manner.

If you are a government contractor looking to obtain ISO standards in the near term, contact us today to learn more about our services.