Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC)

A Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) is a pre-competed, multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract for IT products and services that any federal civilian or defense agency can use to place task orders, streamlining access to qualified vendors across the entire federal government.

What is a Government-Wide Acquisition Contract?

GWACs are authorized under the Clinger-Cohen Act and are designated and managed by OMB-approved GWAC Program Management Offices (PMOs). Unlike agency-specific IDIQs, a GWAC is available to all federal agencies as a "shared vehicle", the acquiring agency does not need its own contract vehicle to use a GWAC. They simply issue a task order against the GWAC after conducting a fair opportunity process among GWAC awardees.

OMB designates specific agencies as authorized GWAC operators. Current active GWACs include:

• OASIS+ (GSA), professional services including management consulting, logistics, engineering, and some IT
• Alliant 3 (GSA), enterprise IT services
• CIO-SP4 (NIH), health IT and solutions
• NASA SEWP (NASA), IT commodities, hardware, and solutions
• STARS III (GSA), IT services for small businesses, with 8(a), SDVOSB, HUBZone and WOSB set-asides

GWACs are IT-focused by statute (Clinger-Cohen Act scope). Non-IT professional services use GSA's OASIS+ (designated as a Best-in-Class vehicle rather than a GWAC) or agency-specific vehicles. The distinction matters because GWAC awardees pay an Industrial Funding Fee to the GWAC program office, and task orders issued against GWACs are reported to the PMO.

A key feature: GWACs are "Best-in-Class" vehicles under OMB Memorandum M-19-13, meaning agencies that use them satisfy OMB's preference for using shared vehicles. Agencies that establish their own standalone contracts for requirements that could be met through a GWAC face scrutiny from their agency acquisition review boards.

Why GWACs matter for government contractors

A GWAC award unlocks access to the entire federal civilian market through a single vehicle. A company on OASIS+ or Alliant 3 does not need to win a vehicle with each agency, any agency can order against the GWAC. This dramatically expands a company's addressable market without requiring additional contract awards. The competitive barrier is at the vehicle level (qualifying for the GWAC through the base competition), not at the agency level. However, GWAC competitions are highly competitive and vehicle holders still must win individual task orders through fair opportunity processes.

Example

A mid-sized IT services company wins an Alliant 3 contract award. Within 18 months, they receive task orders from seven different agencies, HHS, Treasury, DHS, Commerce, Interior, EPA, and VA, all issued against their single Alliant 3 contract. Without Alliant 3, each agency relationship would have required a separate contract vehicle or teaming with a vehicle holder. Alliant 3 provided the company a government-wide footprint from a single competition investment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a GWAC and a GSA Schedule?

A GSA Schedule is a long-term indefinite delivery contract for commercial products and services at pre-negotiated prices, primarily catalog-based ordering. A GWAC is typically a complex services vehicle where task orders are competed among awardees through statements of work and technical proposals. GWACs generally support larger, more complex task orders than typical GSA Schedule orders.

Can small businesses access GWACs?

Yes. Several GWACs have small business set-aside tracks: STARS III is exclusively small business with socioeconomic set-aside pools; SEWP has a significant small business presence; CIO-SP4 and Alliant 3 have small business on-ramps and set-aside procedures within the task order fair opportunity process.

How does the fair opportunity process work on a GWAC?

When an agency wants to place a GWAC task order, they must provide a fair opportunity to all awardees in the relevant pool, issuing a task order Request for Proposal (TO-RFP) or call for responses. Exceptions to fair opportunity (similar to sole-source justifications) apply only under limited conditions (urgency, minimum order, one source uniquely qualified, etc.).

Do GWACs have a ceiling value?

Yes. GWACs have a total contract ceiling (the maximum that all awardees combined can receive across all task orders over the contract's life). However, individual task order ceilings can be substantial. Individual companies may hit their own IDIQ ceiling without the program-wide ceiling being exhausted.