The National Security Agency (NSA) has achieved another milestone in its reformed acquisition program by making the first-ever, multiple prime contract awards to 14 Washington-Baltimore area small businesses under the NSA Set-Aside for Small Business (NSETS) program. These businesses are contractor alliance teams and lead an aggregate of more than 160 small businesses. By formally engaging small businesses at the prime contractor level and by reaching out to myriad local industry participants, this NSETS award further places NSA's partnership with industry at the forefront, and is another reflection of its commitment to acquisition reForm.
The NSETS is a multiple award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with a potential value of up to $350 million and a potential contract duration of six years. It will provide a streamlined acquisition vehicle for Agency procurements and emphasize solution-based contracting principles. Under the terms of the contract, NSA will conduct task order competitions with each alliance team, through its prime, that will acquire services supporting a broad spectrum of Agency mission requirements, to include business processing, software and systems engineering, information technology, operations support and training.
NSA continues to look for opportunities with innovative industry partners that will support the Agency's ongoing transformation of its two-fold mission of providing foreign signals intelligence and protecting national security-related information systems.