Governmentwide acquisition contracts (known as GWAC) is the process by which agencies of the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

purchase goods and services (

procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, Service (economics), services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agenc ...

); these involve legal

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

s between the agency and a private business. A GWAC is an acquisition tool that facilitates and streamlines the purchasing of IT solutions by United States federal government departments and agencies, while ensuring that the many government-mandated rules are followed. These rules are complex, deriving from laws and

regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...

that guide the purchasing processes of each agency. According to the GSA website, "A Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) is a pre-competed, multiple-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (

IDIQ In U.S. Federal government contracting, IDIQ is an abbreviation of the term indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity. This is a type of contract that provides for an indefinite quantity of supplies or services during a fixed period of time. The lega ...

) contract that agencies can use to buy total IT solutions, including both products and services." Federal agencies may create GWACs to support the work of the federal government. This has been done by the GSA, NIH (NITAA

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

( SEWP). A GWAC is not necessarily restricted to the agency that runs it (see the article on SEWP as an example). All IDIQs, including GWACs, are regulated by FAR, a set of rules and regulations that must be followed by federal agencies and resellers of goods and services (known as Contract Holders) to the government in the procurement process.

References

Federal government of the United States Government procurement in the United States {{US-gov-stub