Subpart 511.1 - Selecting and Developing Requirements Documents
511.102 Security of Information Technology Data
For actions that pertain to information systems or contractor managed government data, use the guidance identified under GSA’s office of the Senior Agency Information Security Officer publication CIO IT Security Procedural Guide 09–48. The guide can be accessed at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/25690. The contracting officer shall coordinate with program officials or requiring activities to ensure that the solicitation includes the appropriate information security requirements. The information security requirements must be sufficiently detailed to enable contractors to fully understand the information security regulations, mandates, and requirements under the contract or task order.
511.104 Use of brand name or equal purchase descriptions.
(a) A brand name or equal purchase description must avoid specifying characteristics that do not materially affect the intended end use and which unnecessarily restrict competition.
(b) When the contracting officer uses a brand name or equal purchase description, best practice is to cite the known acceptable brand name products in current manufacture, rather than only a single brand name product. For example, cite the acceptable brand name products identified during market research.
(c) The contracting officer may require samples for “or equal” offers, but not for “brand name” offers.
(d) The contracting officer shall provide for full consideration and evaluation of “or equal” offers against the salient characteristics specified in the purchase description and shall not reject offers for minor differences in design, construction, or features that do not affect the suitability of the product for its intended use.
511.170 Information Technology Coordination and Standards.
(a) Standard Configurations. The contracting officer shall use standard configurations for GSA information technology procurements when feasible. A list of standard configurations for applicable information technology procurements can be found on the Acquisition Gateway Information Technology Hallway (login required) at https://hallways.cap.gsa.gov/app/#/gateway/information-technology.
(b) CIO Coordination. Requirements for GSA information technology must be coordinated with the GSA Chief Information Officer (CIO) in accordance with the Federal Information and Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) (Pub L. No. 113-291). Guidance for identifying the applicable GSA CIO point of contact is located on the Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/itprocurement. For interagency acquisitions involving information technology, see subpart 517.5.
(c) GSA IT Standards Profile. GSA information technology must also be approved for use pursuant to the GSA Order CIO 2160.1 GSA IT Standards Profile. More details about the formal GSA IT Standards Profile approval process can be found on the GSA IT Standards webpage at the following link: https://insite.gsa.gov/portal/content/500499.
(d) Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).
(1) Developing Requirements.
(i) In accordance with FAR 11.002(g), contracting officers must include IPv6 requirements in all contracts and orders for information technology (IT) that will have the capability to access the Internet or any network utilizing Internet Protocol (IPv4 or IPv6).
(ii) Sample statement of work language to require IPv6 compliance can be found on the Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/itprocurement.
(iii) See 539.101 (d) for guidance on verifying contractor compliance with IPv6 requirements.
(2) Waivers
(i) The GSA Chief Information Officer (CIO) must approve any waiver from IPv6 requirements.
(ii) The waiver request must provide the following information–
(A) The product or service description;
(B) The purpose of the procurement;
(C) The requested duration of waiver; and
(D) Sufficient justification for why IPv6 should be waived.
(iii) A sample waiver request is located on the Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/itprocurement.
(iv) Waivers must be documented in the contract file.
(e) Software Code Development. An alternatives analysis must be completed to leverage existing Federal or commercial software prior to buying custom-developed software code. To comply with this process, software requirements must be developed using the following order of preference—
(1) Software that the Government already owns. For software that will be used by GSA, this requires review of the GSA IT Standards List within the GSA Enterprise Architecture Analytics & Reporting Database that can be accessed from the Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/itprocurement. The GSA IT Standards List shows software that has been approved for use within GSA by the Chief Technology Officer.
(2) Existing commercially-available software.
(3) Custom-developed software code in conjunction with existing Government or commercial software. See 511.170 (f) for requirements with procuring custom-developed code.
(4) Custom-developed software code only. See 511.170 (f) for requirements with procuring custom-developed code.
(f) Custom-Developed Software Code.
(1) Developing Requirements. Requirements for custom development of software code must include the establishment of enforceable rights sufficient to enable GSA to directly publish and publicly host all custom-developed code in accordance with GSA CIO IL-16-03, GSA Open Source Software Policy. To acquire open source software, the contracting officer must include the following–
(i) Any applicable FAR data rights clause; and
(ii) Sufficient data rights language in the statement of work. GSA Standard Open Source Code Statement of Work language can be found on the Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/itprocurement.
(2) Waivers.
(i) The GSA Chief Information Officer (CIO) must approve any waiver from the open source code requirements mandated in (1). If a waiver is approved, GSA must still acquire and enforce rights sufficient to enable GSA or Government-wide reuse of custom-developed code. FAR clause 52.227-17 - Rights in Data - Special Works may be used to acquire Government-wide reuse of custom-developed code.
(ii) The waiver request must provide the following information–
(A) The product or service description;
(B) The purpose of the procurement; and
(C) Sufficient justification for why open source code requirements should be waived.
(iii) A sample waiver form is located on the Acquisition Portal at https://insite.gsa.gov/itprocurement
(iv) Waivers must be documented in the contract file.