By David Bicknell
Something unexplained appears to be happening in the contractual relationship between US federal procurers and Oracle.
As this story from InformationWeek details, the US federal government has cancelled Oracle’s services contract on the the General Services Administration’s (GSA) IT Schedule 70. The US government spent $388 million on Oracle products and services through Schedule 70 in the 2011 financial year.
The GSA is an agency that helps with procurement services for other government agencies. As part of this effort, it maintains the GSA Schedule, something akin to a collection of pre-negotiated contracts from which other agencies can use to buy goods and services.
Procurement managers from government agencies can view these agreements and make purchases from the GSA Schedule knowing that all legal obligations have been taken care of by GSA.
IT Schedule 70 is the largest and most widely used acquisition vehicle in the US federal government. Schedule 70 is an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) multiple award schedule, providing direct access to products and services from over 5,000 certified industry partners.
The GSA detailed its cancellation of the Oracle contract in a tightly worded announcement on its website. There has been no further explanation for the contract cancellation and no comment to date from Oracle.
The contract cancellation has also been reported on other blogs in the US:
GSA cancels Oracle IT contract
Six months after suit between them settles, GSA ends contract with Oracle
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