The General Services Administration chose more than 400 small businesses as winners of technology contracts totaling up to $50 billion. The process choosing the contractors, called the 8(a) Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resource for Services (STARS) III Governmentwide Acquisition Contract 9 (GWAC), began last summer and culminated this week with a list of 426 small businesses in the program’s initial phase.
The STARS program is a partnership between the GSA and the Small Business Administration to give smaller businesses a chance to compete with larger organizations for government contracts. The cohort of small businesses are now approved for U.S. government agency procurement officials to choose as vendors of emerging technologies including RPA and intelligent automation solutions.
“The 8(a) STARS GWAC program represents an inclusive opportunity for small, disadvantaged firms to compete within the federal marketplace and gain valuable experience in navigating agency requirements,” said GSA Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Associate Administrator, Exodie C. Roe, III. “More than $18 billion has been awarded through GSA’s 8(a) GWACs, and many successful firms have graduated from the SBA’s 8(a) Program to compete on a larger scale.”