Alliant GWAC: Unfriendly to Small Business? Small business advocates are pressing the General Services Administration to ensure that small firms get a fair share of the proposed Alliant governmentwide acquisition contract. GSA has said the 15-year, $150 billion IT vehicle will have no small business set-asides. Instead the agency intends to award four to seven of the 20 prime contracts to small firms or teams of small firms. That means the small businesses will have to compete with large ones for task orders. “That is a major barrier to successfully working on the contract for small businesses,” said Ann Sullivan, federal legislative consultant for Women Impacting Public Policy. Plans for the Alliant contract were announced in February. GSA has submitted a business case for the contract to the Office of Management and Budget and is awaiting approval. The Small Business Administration has been in touch with OMB on the issue, said Emily Murphy, senior adviser to the Office of Government Contracting and Business Development. She said SBA is working to ensure that “small businesses get the best possible representation at the prime and subcontracting level.” She and Sullivan spoke Aug. 24 in a conference call sponsored by the National Women’s Business Council. According to GSA’s plan, each Alliant contractor will be required to offer a full range of IT services, rather than allowing companies to make offers in only one or a few categories. The agency urged small businesses to form teams. If OMB gives the go-ahead, GSA plans to issue a request for information this fall. Awards would be made in 2006. For more information about the Alliant contract, go to www.gsa.gov/alliant.