STOC II Gains Momentum

(MoneyWatch)  The Simulator & Trainer Omnibus Contract (STOC) II recently qualified a whole swath of U.S. and European defense contractors to provide support to the U.S. Army in the areas of simulation, training, range instrumentation and support. The STOC II is managed by PEO (STRI) for the Army. The contract which has a value of over $17 billion if all aspects are executed is an Indefinite Quantity/Indefinite Delivery contract. This means that the Army can buy services from any of the qualified contractors by paying for hours of labor and products at any amount they want. Many companies, like ICF International, QineitQ, DRC, AAI, and others qualified. There is no guarantee with an ID/IQ contract that any company will get work. Actually there is no guarantee that any work will be awarded. The contract allows the customer to pick and choose what it needs and who will supply it. Similar to Task Order contracts where companies qualify for an omnibus contract and then get to bid on various task orders of work. The services like these contracts as they treat the actual order award as not a full contract action. This limits reviews and protests. Congress has moved to make the actual task order awards like contract actions due to concerns that they are expensive and do not necessarily provide best value to the government.