The State Department’s “HITSS II” contract solicitation is in the final stages of preparation, Shapleigh Drisko, OSDBU director for State, said at a Set-Aside Alert breakfast on June 22.

The Hybrid IT Services for State II acquisition is expected to be a multiple-award IDIQ with a total value of about $2.1 billion, according to Deltek. The primary NAICS code is 541419, other computer-related services, and the solicitation is expected by September, Deltek said.

“There will be a HITSS II, smaller than HITSS,” Drisko said. “There will be a set-aside. We are still trying to figure out which tracks.”

“We want to get it out as soon as possible,” he said. “We do not want to have to do a bridge (with expiring HITSS).”

The Air Force announced the small business winners of its Netcents2 Application Services IDIQ contract on June 22. The firms will compete for task orders with a ceiling of $960 million.

The awardees are Array Information Technology, Inc. FA8771-12-D-1011; ActioNet, Inc. FA8771-12-D-1012; Datum Software Inc. FA8771-12-D-1001;;Digital Management, Inc. FA8771-12-D-1002; Diligent Consulting Inc. FA8771-12-D-1003; Diversified Technical Services, Inc. FA8771-12-D-1004; DSD Laboratories Inc. FA8771-12-D-1005; Excellus Solutions, LLC FA8771-12-D-1006; Exeter Government Services, LLC. FA8771-12-D-1007; IndraSoft FA8771-12-D-1008; Segue Technologies FA8771-12-D-1009; and SI Systems Technologies FA8771-12-D-1010.

The Supreme Court on June 18 decided that federal agencies must pay contractors the full amount due under a cost-type contract even if there are insufficient appropriations, according to an analysis by McKenna, Long & Aldridge law firm. The agencies must pay the full amount even if the contract has a disclaimer stating “subject to the availability of appropriations.”

The court ruled on the Salazar v Ramah case (No. 11-551) by a 5-4 vote. The case involved the Ramah Navajo chapter’s service contracts with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The contracts were subject to availability of funds, and the bureau, based on insufficient funds, paid each contractor a share of the full value. While the U.S. District Court of New Mexico upheld the government, the decision was reversed by the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

The GSA’s eBuy online system, in which an agency buyer may issue a Request for Quote and obtain other information from vendors, is adding small business set-aside information, according to Wade Prince, managing consultant for Aronson LLC.

The new feature will identify whether a specific RFQ has a small business set-aside, Prince said.

Other new items soon will include a Question & Answer section and single login pages for users.