CHESS News

FORT BELVOIR, Virginia. – The US Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI), Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois in accordance with the Army Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software, and Solutions (CHESS) office under the Army Program Executive Office, Enterprise Information Systems awarded a follow-on Enterprise License Agreement for Oracle Maintenance on 25 May 2022. This ELA covers Oracle Premier Support Maintenance on Previously Acquired Licenses (PALs) in support of Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) and Army Material Command (AMC).

FORT BELVOIR, Virginia – The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI), Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, in accordance with the Army Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS) product office under Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS), finalized modifications to 120 vendors on its Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – 3 Services (ITES-3S) contract vehicle on Jan. 5, 2022. Modifications include the addition of three new task areas, updates to existing task areas, and new labor categories within each task area. The updates will enable the Army to stay on top of an evolving information technology (IT) landscape, offer customers the latest and greatest services and solutions in support of missions, and adhere to government-wide strategies and solutions within the IT services environment. The ITES-3S contract vehicle is the Army’s mandatory source for commercial off-the-shelf IT services. The contract includes a technology refresh clause, allowing the government to add new positions in alignment with the contract’s scope, thus enabling the Army to monitor new technologies and solutions, and refresh its offerings throughout the contract’s duration. Task areas updated with new labor categories include: Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Services, Cybersecurity Services, Application Systems, Data Services, and Information Technology Services such as Telecommunications. Newly added labor categories include: Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineer Machine Learning Engineer Machine Learning (Data) Scientist Data Services: Data Architect Data Engineer Data Labeler Data Scientist Operations Research and Systems Analyst (ORSA) Cloud Services: Cloud Architect Cloud Developer Cloud DevOps Engineer Cloud Network Engineer Cloud Security Engineer Platform Engineer Test Engineer User Interface, User Experience (UI/UX) Designer Cybersecurity Services: Cyber Security Architect Application Systems: Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery or Deployment (CI/CD) Engineer DevOps Engineer – I Full Stack Developer DevSecOps Engineer Information Technology Services: Telecommunications Specialist “ITES-3S was developed to provide a full range of services and solutions for the Army to support their net-centric goals with information technology services worldwide” said Keith Copeland, ITES-3S product officer for the CHESS office. “This technology refresh positions ITES-3S to continue to provide cutting-edge capabilities to not only the Army, but to DOD and other federal agencies, with no associated CHESS fees.” “CHESS is dedicated to innovation and capability advancements, while providing competitive, efficient, economical contracts that support the Army’s digital transformation objectives,” said Wayne Sok, product lead for CHESS. “We’re able to keep pace with ever-changing technology and services by designing contracts like ITES-3S, which offer the flexibility our customers and stakeholders need to procure new and advanced technical solutions — when they need them.” ITES-3S is a nine-year, $12.1 billion, multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract vehicle, designed to provide enterprise-level services for the Army, as well as for other defense and civilian agencies. It is positioned to be a Tier 3 Office of Management and Budget category management Best-in-Class contract vehicle for IT services.

FORT BELVOIR, Virginia – The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI), Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois — in accordance with the Army Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software, and Solutions (CHESS) product office within the Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems — has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for contractors to support the Information Technology Enterprise Software and Solutions – 4 Hardware (ITES-4H) contract vehicle. ITES-4H is the follow-on to the ITES-3H contracts that are the Army’s mandatory source for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) information technology (IT) hardware. The purpose of the ITES-4H acquisition is to support the Army, Department of Defense (DOD) and all federal agency IT infrastructure and infostructure goals with a full range of innovative, world-class COTS IT hardware in seven product catalogs, in addition to related incidental software and services. CHESS contracts are designed to keep pace with emerging technology and applications, and provide the technology solutions to meet the Army’s needs of today and in the future. “ITES-4H is intended to keep pace with today’s difficult IT environment,” said Wayne Sok, CHESS product lead. “I, along with the CHESS office and our ACC-RI and Information Systems Engineering Command (ISEC) teammates, are excited about the release of the ITES-4H solicitation. I know there has been much anticipation from our industry partners to have the opportunity to be a part of this contract vehicle which will offer the much-needed and critical COTS hardware solutions for not just the Army, but for DOD and federal customers as well.” The ITES-4H contract awards will consist of multiple firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite- quantity contracts with a base period of five years, plus one five-year option with a contract value of $10 billion. For more information, visit https://sam.gov and search for ITES-4H using Notice ID W52P1J-20-R-0082.

Need to meet your Reverse Auction goal? Tired of Reverse Auction fees affecting cost-savings? Try the NEW Reverse Auction capability on the CHESS IT e-mart with NO FEE! Located under RFx on the main menu bar. For additional questions or to attend a Reverse Auction training contact Tricia Shelley at tricia.a.shelley.ctr@army.mil

CHESS is pleased to announce the designation of Army Desktop and Mobile Computing – 3 (ADMC-3) as a “Best in Class” (BIC) IT contract by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The BIC-designated IT contracts represent preferred government-wide solutions and provide a unique opportunity to leverage the government’s buying power. The BIC designation allows acquisition experts to take advantage of pre-vetted, government-wide contract solutions; supports a government-wide migration to solutions that are mature and market-proven; assists in the optimization of spend, within the government-wide category management framework; and increases the transactional data available for agency level and government-wide analysis of buying behavior.

The CB 31 Performance Review is a semi-annual report that highlights the governments purchase cycle for commodity purchases of COTS IT hardware through the ADMC-2 CB 31 period.

The Acquisition Gateway published the segment "How can I best meet my requirements?" that contains a collection of Value Proposition Fact Sheets. These documents give a brief overview of how the solution can help agencies meet their BIC goals. Click the link to learn more about CHESS' BIC value proposition.

21 Jul - CHESS 101 Briefing 15 Sep - CHESS 101 Briefing Interested in any of the above trainings? Register at the link below.