Alliant 3

Alliant 3 is GSA's flagship enterprise IT services GWAC, providing all federal agencies access to a pre-competed pool of large and small businesses for complex, integrated IT solutions including cloud computing, AI/ML, cybersecurity, digital transformation, and large-scale enterprise system development and integration.

What is Alliant 3?

Alliant 3 is a government-wide acquisition contract (GWAC) managed by GSA FAS, succeeding Alliant 2 (which reached its $50 billion ceiling in 2024). As with its predecessors, Alliant 3 is for complex IT services that go beyond commodity hardware or catalog-based software purchases, it targets integrated solutions, enterprise systems, and technology advisory services.

Alliant 3 structure and scope:

Multiple award, IDIQ: Alliant 3 is awarded to a pool of qualified companies (hundreds of awardees across both unrestricted and small business pools). Any agency can issue task orders against it through fair opportunity competition among awardees.

Scope: The Alliant 3 Statement of Work covers IT services broadly: application development, system integration, cloud migration, cybersecurity, AI/ML, data analytics, IT operations and maintenance, help desk, infrastructure modernization, and digital transformation. The scope is intentionally broad to accommodate evolving IT requirements over the contract's life.

Small Business component: Alliant 3 includes a dedicated Small Business on-ramp, ensuring agencies seeking to place small-business set-aside task orders have a pool of qualified small business awardees. GSA has historically maintained roughly 30% of Alliant contract dollars flowing to small businesses.

Total ceiling: Alliant 3 has a substantial contract ceiling (expected to be in the range of $75-100 billion given Alliant 2's rapid utilization) shared across all awardees over a 10-year ordering period.

Task orders under Alliant 3 range from modest IT support engagements to billion-dollar enterprise system programs. The vehicle is particularly well-suited for agencies undertaking major system modernization, where the complexity, scale, and integration requirements exceed what commodity vehicles like the GSA Schedule can practically accommodate.

Why Alliant 3 matters for government contractors

Alliant 3 is an access vehicle to the entire federal IT services market. An award positions a company to pursue IT services task orders from any federal agency, eliminating the need to qualify separately for each agency's vehicle or to rely on teaming as a subcontractor to vehicle holders. The initial competition for Alliant 3 awards evaluates company qualifications, past performance on complex IT work, and demonstrated technical capability. Winning an Alliant 3 award, particularly during the base competition, is a significant competitive milestone that signals credibility across the market. See also contract vehicles for a broader comparison of major IT vehicles.

Example

A systems integration firm wins an Alliant 3 unrestricted award. Over three years, the firm competes for and wins task orders from DHS (cloud migration, $48M), Treasury (financial system modernization, $120M), and DoD components (several cybersecurity engagements totaling $35M). The DHS task order, which required complex legacy system integration, would have been difficult to pursue without an enterprise IT vehicle that agencies trusted for large, complex programs. Alliant 3's reputation as a rigorous qualification vehicle made the DHS contracting officer comfortable awarding a large program to the firm without the agency having an existing contractor relationship.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Alliant 3 compare to CIO-SP4?

CIO-SP4 is NIH's GWAC focused on health IT and broadly on IT solutions across the health domain. Alliant 3 is GSA's vehicle with no health-specific focus. Many companies hold both. Agencies within the health community (HHS, VA, FDA, CDC) often prefer CIO-SP4 due to NIH's domain expertise in managing the vehicle. Defense and civilian non-health agencies tend toward Alliant 3.

What is the difference between Alliant 3 and OASIS+?

OASIS+ covers professional services broadly (management consulting, engineering, logistics, and some IT). Alliant 3 is specifically an IT services vehicle. Complex IT requirements with integrated professional services elements could potentially go through either, but IT-dominant programs typically use Alliant 3 while service-dominant programs use OASIS+.

Can a company hold both Alliant 3 and a GSA MAS IT contract?

Yes. There is no restriction on holding multiple GSA contracts simultaneously. Many IT companies hold both a GSA MAS contract (for catalog/commercial IT products and simpler services) and an Alliant 3 award (for complex services). Agencies choose which vehicle to use based on the nature and complexity of the requirement.

What happens to Alliant 2 task orders when Alliant 3 is awarded?

Alliant 2 task orders awarded before the contract ceiling or ordering period expires continue to be performed under Alliant 2 terms. New task orders (once the Alliant 2 ordering period closed) move to Alliant 3. Existing Alliant 2 awardees must separately compete for Alliant 3, prior Alliant 2 status does not automatically carry over.