So long to the “BIC MAC”-We hardly knew you

The federal government is usually obsessed with naming things after Star Wars. There was the dearly departed Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract, the maligned CMMC 3rd Party Assessors (C3PAOs), and the grand daddy of them all—Ronald Regan’s Star Wars missile defense program.

Side note: Is it just a coincidence that none of the three have been successful or is it some sort of George Lucas curse?

That was why it was actually kinda cool when GSA started calling the follow-up to its successful One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) contract the Best In Class Multiple Award Contract (BIC MAC). Just the fact that the government had decided to steal from allude to a different but no less ubiquitous American brand was—in the words of Federal News Network’s Jason Miller—fun.

Ah, but that was not to be. GSA has ditched the BIC MAC and gone with OASIS Plus (aka OASIS+).

Yawn.

But I do get it. It’s like OASIS but with some added benefits. They include a continued focus on small business participation with awards to not only 8(a) contractors and small businesses like the current OASIS contract but also SDVOSB, WOSB, and HUBZone businesses. That means there are going to be six total categories of awards (unrestricted, total small business, 8(a), SDVOSB, WOSB, and HUBZone).

The scope is also expanding. OASIS Plus will include the services currently procured on OASIS; the Human Capital and Training Solutions (HCaTS) vehicle; and Building, Maintenance, and Operations (BMO) contracts. Plus—no pun intended—environmental, intelligence, and large enterprise (sort of a catchall for big projects) services.

Interested parties can expect to see a draft solicitation by early fiscal year 2023. Maybe they’ll use the time to think of a Star Wars name. Might I suggest YOdA (Your OASIS double Acquisition)? Eh, it’s a work in progress.