NetStar Information Technology services provider, is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a contract under the General Services Administration's (GSA's) 8(a) Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resources for Services (STARS) Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). 8(a) STARS is the replacement vehicle for GSA's highly successful 8(a) Federal Acquisition Services for Technology (FAST) contract.

8(a) STARS is a multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract vehicle for Information Technology Products and Services. Award of the 8(a) STARS contracts was on a competitive basis to eligible 8(a) IT support contractors. 8(a) STARS can be utilized by all Government agencies to obtain information technology services. It allows Government agencies to Sole Source Direct task orders up to $3 million without the need to obtain prior Small Business Administration (SBA) approval and without any administrative fees. Task Orders above the $3M threshold must be competed among eligible 8(a) STARS contract holders.

• Seven (7) year contract with a 3-year base and two (2), two-year option periods. The period of performance began on June 1, 2004 and ends on May 31, 2011 if all options are exercised.
  
• 8 distinct Functional Areas (FA) designated by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). NetStar was awarded the following two (2) FAs:
  
  -FA2 - NAICS 541512 Computer Systems Design Services
  -FA5 - NAICS 541519 Other Computer Related Services
  
• Sole Source, Directed task orders up to $3 million each for federal civilian agencies are allowable pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(5).
  
• Sole Source, Directed task orders up to $3 million each for Department of Defense activities are compliant with Section 803 of the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act. Small Business Administration (SBA) approval/management oversight is not required.
  
• Competitive Solicitations and Awards can be conducted for orders greater than the $3 million threshold.
  
• 8(a) credit can be transferred back to client agency via Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS)
  
• $15 billion Program ceiling; No individual contract limit.
  
• Awards are Non-protestable, except on the grounds of Scope, Maximum Order Limitation, and/or Period of Performance,
  
• Task Orders may be issued one of two ways:

  1) Client Agency Contracting Officer (CO) can request Delegation of Procurement Authority from the GSA SBGWAC Center, after which the Agency CO issues and manages the orders directly and provides a copy to the SBGWAC Center.

  
  Please Note: Delegations are easy to request. Only two pieces of information are required: 1) a request via e-mail from an e-mail account having a ".gov" or ".mil" suffix listing the name(s) of the party(ies) for whom authority is being requested; And 2) a copy of the warrant for each contracting officer for whom authority is being requested. The warrant(s) may accompany the e-mail as a scanned attachment, or may be faxed separately. For additional information, please see Pg 12 of the attached 8(a) STARS Ordering Guide.
  

  2) Through GSA, Federal Technology Services (FTS) assisted services.
  

• Contract Types include any in the Fixed Price family, Time and Materials, and Labor Hour.
  
• Incremental Funding is permitted.
  
• GSA Contract Access Fee. A contract access fee of 0.75% is built into PSS' labor rates. NetStar pays this fee directly to GSA. There is no fee for Client Agencies utilizing the STARS contract.
  
• Hardware, Software and Related Supplies can be procured as part of an integrated solution.
  
• Subcontractor Teaming Arrangements are permissible and extremely flexible at the task order level.

  Further information is contained in the attached GSA 8(a) STARS Ordering Guide, the attached Answers to Frequently Asked Questions or from the GSA STARS web-site at www.gsa.gov/8astars .
  
  NetStar looks forward to the opportunity of supporting our customers under this and/or our numerous other contract vehicles.