Multiple Award Contracts Fuel Set-Aside Growth Set-aside contracts for information technology will top $20.5 billion in fiscal 2006, 43% more than last year, according to the market research firm Input. Professional services will account for about 70% of that total, or $14 billion. Input counts the total value of contracts that are scheduled to be awarded during the year, including the ceiling value for indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts. The largest set-aside is GSA’s governmentwide acquisition contract for service-disabled veterans, due to be awarded this spring, with a ceiling of $5 billion. Other major IT contracts include: •Homeland Security’s First Source, a $3 billion multiple award contract for commercial IT products, a small business set-aside; •The Air Force’s $960 million small business set-aside for professional acquisition and information technology support services; •The Air Force’s $350 million small business set-aside for advisory and assistance services at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma; and •The Army’s $310 million small business set-aside for business process outsourcing of emerging program management and interpretation/translation services in Afghanistan, due in the second quarter of the fiscal year. Set-asides for service-disabled veteran-owned businesses are the fastest growing category as agencies struggle to meet the 3% goal for prime contracting with those companies. Besides the SDV GWAC, Input says it is tracking an additional $200 million in SDV set-asides, with the Army accounting for more than half of that. But only 4,113 SDV businesses specializing in IT are registered in the Central Contractor Registration, less than 6% of all small IT businesses, according to the report. One of the biggest 8(a) set-asides this year will be NASA Glenn Research Center’s requirement for technical, engineering and scientific services.