VITA offers two methods for meeting your needs for IT contractors and consultants: Supplier Managed Staff Augmentation (SMSA) and Advanced IT Resources. The specific method you choose will depend on the type of services required.

SMSA

General characteristics of SMSA resources include, but are not limited to:

• The agency provides management and direction for the contractor’s day-to-day work tasks.
• The type of work performed by the contractor can change during the hiring periods.
• The contractor is temporarily supplementing your existing staff.

Go to SMSA

Advanced IT Resources

The Advanced IT Resources (AIT) contract expired on August 25, 2009.  VITA, working with the IT Contingent Labor Steering Committee established at the request of the Chief of Staff, is developing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for replacing the AIT contract and the Supplier Managed Staff Augmentation (SMSA) contract.  The RFP will be released to the supplier community around September 14, 2009 and contracts may be awarded early in 2010.

During the interim, VITA is advising agencies to utilize the SMSA contract for obtaining IT staff augmentation resources.  Additionally, the SMSA contract can be utilized to obtaining IT resources to perform Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) services for major IT projects.  Another alternative for deliverables based engagements is for agencies to conduct a competitive solicitation for any deliverables-based consulting service that is unable to be met by using the SMSA contract.

As a reminder, agencies are required to obtain delegation from the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for any non-infrastructure procurement valued at $50,000 or more.  Agencies are also responsible for obtaining the proponent Cabinet Secretary and Department of Planning and Budget approvals as directed by the Chief of Staff memorandum dated June 26, 2009 entitled "Reminder on Discretionary Spending".