70 -- Increase of the Monetary Ceiling of an IDIQ Contract

The purpose of this notice is to inform the vendor community of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) intention to increase the maximum dollar ceiling of its Enterprise Technology Services Contract (ETSC) with Lockheed Martin Information Technology (Lockheed) by $95 million. This increase is needed because SSA has made far greater use of the ETSC than originally envisioned and the contract will reach its maximum dollar ceiling during March 2004 (a full 22 months earlier than the January 31, 2006 end date). The dollar ceiling increase will allow for continued contractor support under the ETSC during its recompetition and transition to a new contract by approximately July 2004; and, more importantly, this increase will permit work on unplanned, exigent Medicare-related changes that must begin immediately and continue uninterrupted through January 31, 2006. The recompetition to replace the ETSC is currently underway with a draft RFP (SSA-RFP-04-1018) being released for industry comment concurrent with this notice. The resulting new contract will be of substantial value (i.e., approximately nine times the value of this noncompetitive action) and will provide industry a fair opportunity to compete for the majority of future contractor support requirements within SSA (i.e., the exception being support related to Medicare-related changes). Up to $55 million of the monetary ceiling increase will allow for an orderly continuation of contractor support services up to award of the new contract and through a planned 3-month transition period. Up to $40 million of the monetary ceiling increase will allow uninterrupted support for implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 through January 2006. The orderly continuation of current, on-going services can only be accomplished by Lockheed (the incumbent contractor). Additionally, only Lockheed can provide the required contractor support services that are required to implement the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 within the mandated implementation dates of that legislation since a competitive contract for such support would take at least five or six months to award given the current status of the requirements analysis and acquisition lead times for even an expedited award. SSA cannot afford this length of delay in obtaining contractor support. This document does not constitute a solicitation for offers. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not be honored or acknowledged. Pricing data is not requested or required. No contract award will be made on the basis of responses received. Respondents will not be notified of the results of any Government evaluation of submitted information. Any responses to this notice should be submitted electronically within 5 calendar days to [email protected] and refer to the ETSC Modification.