Sources Sought
CORP: VCS Standalone IT Support Contract - RFI (VA-27-00012857)
Department of Veterans Affairs
AI summarySources sought notice 36C10B27Q0060 is a request for information (RFI) from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Technology Acquisition Center, not a solicitation, and no contract is awarded from it. VA is gathering responses on information technology (IT) support for the Veterans Canteen Service (VCS): project management, software sustainment, system development and cybersecurity. The response due date is November 9, 2026, 10:00 AM Eastern, by email; the draft plan is one 12-month base year plus four 12-month option years. More in the summary
Market research, not a bid. Replying is free and tells Department of Veterans Affairs who could do this work. Send a short reply to the contracting contact; no price is needed. See the contact
AI summary Beta
The notice looks incomplete: Part of the draft PWS was attached but not read (about 68,000 characters in the middle, covering the program management tasks, optional tasks one to four, general requirements, security and privacy rules, performance metrics, service levels and government-furnished property). Check the attachments on SAM.gov.
Sources sought notice 36C10B27Q0060 is a request for information (RFI) from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Technology Acquisition Center, not a solicitation, and no contract is awarded from it. VA is gathering responses on information technology (IT) support for the Veterans Canteen Service (VCS): project management, software sustainment, system development and cybersecurity. The response due date is November 9, 2026, 10:00 AM Eastern, by email; the draft plan is one 12-month base year plus four 12-month option years.
Who can bid
- Open to all responsible sources; SAM.gov states no set-aside
- SDVOSBs and VOSBs must show proof of verification in the SBA Small Business Search website
- A future contract would need key personnel in five roles: Project Manager, Scrum Master, Technical Leads/Architects, Cloud Architect/Engineer and Lead Business Analyst
How to submit: Email to Dennis.Simms@va.gov with Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) IT Support Services in the subject line. What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (9)
From the version posted Oct 21, 2026.
- Worth checking: Information request only; no award from this notice. A response does not lead directly to a contract and VA pays nothing for it. It can shape the draft requirements and tells VA who is interested.
- Worth checking: No marketing materials or generic capability statements. A response that is not specific to the draft PWS will not be accepted or reviewed, and anything past 25 pages is ignored.
- Worth checking: Possible organizational conflict of interest. Helping VA plan upgrades under this contract could bar the contractor from competing for later enhancement or modernization contracts for the same systems.
Show all 9Show fewer
- Worth checking: Round-the-clock support for critical systems. Critical components may need support 24 hours a day, every day. The draft sets a 30-minute response target for the most critical incidents and 99.9% availability for mission-critical systems. Evenings, weekends and holidays are possible.
- Worth checking: Wide mix of older and newer technology. The systems span mainframe, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, SharePoint and cloud tools, so a small firm may need teaming partners with several specialties.
- Worth checking: Two start dates for the Oracle Retail cloud move. The background section says the separate Oracle Retail migration begins in late 2026; section 5.2 says 2027. Both give 14 to 18 months. Ask VA which governs, because the contractor must support interface changes during it.
- Worth checking: New work is added later through Execution Plans. Extra work is scoped after award, and the contractor must price teams of 2 to 10 people, including monthly pricing for partial-year use. The amount of work is not fixed.
- Minor: Data breach liquidated damages. If sensitive personal information is breached, the contractor owes liquidated damages (preset payments) of $37.50 per affected person, though VA says it may forgo them if actual damages are paid.
- Minor: Key personnel need VA approval to change. The five key roles cannot be removed or replaced without Contracting Officer or Contracting Officer's Representative approval, requested in writing before any change.
Read from the notice and 2 attachments. Show which files.
- 36C10B27Q0060.docx (read)
- OIT VCS IT Support Contract v1 PWS draft.docx (read)
Full summary
What they want
- Project management: a Contractor Project Management Plan, monthly progress reports, onboarding and offboarding of staff, and a 60-calendar-day transition-in that overlaps with current contractors
- Sustain, run and maintain VCS systems: financial and retail systems (Oracle E-Business Suite and Oracle Retail), the point of sale back end, the mobile device management security and interface, and VCS SharePoint sites
- Daily batch job management, database administration, backups and disaster recovery, incident handling, and Tier 2 and Tier 3 support with a monthly report
- Cybersecurity services: keep the authority to operate (ATO: VA's approval for a system to run) current and fix vulnerabilities within VA timeframes
- Agile (short work cycles), DevSecOps (development, security and operations together) and CI/CD (automated building and release) delivery, with testing, Section 508 accessibility testing and quarterly reports
- Program and project management support: a product roadmap, planning, a risk and issue register, stakeholder communication and performance reporting
- Optional Task One: additional VCS IT support, scoped through Execution Plans for teams of 2 to 10 people
- Other optional tasks: Task Two surge support (time-and-materials), Task Three the ShopVCS eCommerce website, Task Four a 60-day transition out
- Contract type
- Not stated. The draft performance work statement (PWS) says optional Task Two surge support would be time-and-materials. The type for the rest is not chosen in the text.
- Period of performance
- One 12-month base period and four 12-month option periods, plus four optional tasks if exercised. Task Three is 12 months each time it is exercised; Task Four is one 60-day period.
- Place of performance
- Contractor facilities; the contractor names its place of performance in its proposal. The PWS anticipates no travel. SAM.gov leaves the place of performance blank.
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- Not applicable: this is an RFI, and responses are used only as information for the Government
- Offers due
- November 9, 2026, 10:00 AM Eastern
- How to submit
- Email to Dennis.Simms@va.gov with Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) IT Support Services in the subject line
- Page limits
- 25 pages for the whole response; the Government will not review pages beyond 25
What to include when you submit
- Put these in the first paragraph: company name, address, point of contact, phone, email, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, Unique Entity ID (UEI), business size and status, NAICS code, socioeconomic data, and existing contract vehicles such as GWACs or Federal Supply Schedules
- Service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs) and veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) must include proof of verification in the SBA Small Business Search website
- Summarize your ability to meet the requirements in section 5 of the draft PWS
- Give recommendations on the draft PWS, acquisition strategy, contract structure, performance period or other points that would improve competition
- Mark YES or NO on whether the draft PWS gives enough detail on tasks and deliverables; if NO, explain what would help
- No marketing materials or generic capability statements; address the services in the PWS
- Mark the response Proprietary Information if it is business sensitive
- Keep each email under 5 MB; label multiple emails as email 1 of 2 and so on
After award, you must have
- Staff needing VA network access must finish required VA Talent Management System (TMS) training within 14 days after the access need is identified From OIT VCS IT Support Contract v1 PWS draft.docx:
…complete all required VA Talent Management System (TMS) training courses within 14 days of the identification of the access need…
- Every contractor employee completes VA Form 0752 (a VA contractor form) and gives it to the Contracting Officer before any work starts From OIT VCS IT Support Contract v1 PWS draft.docx:
VA Form 0752 shall be completed by all Contractor employees working on this contract…
Current contractor
No incumbent is named.
Not in the notice text
- Part of the draft PWS was attached but not read (about 68,000 characters in the middle, covering the program management tasks, optional tasks one to four, general requirements, security and privacy rules, performance metrics, service levels and government-furnished property).
- Whether the future buy will be set aside is not stated; SAM.gov shows no set-aside, and the RFI projects NAICS 541519 with a $34 million size standard.
- The contract type, the Government's estimate, the number of awards, the planned solicitation date and the evaluation approach are not stated.
- The draft PWS is version 0.1, dated September 16, 2026, and may change before any solicitation.
- The contractor-side security needs (background investigation level, position risk designation and personnel security requirements) are in the part of the PWS that was not read.
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside. Any business can reply: this is market research, and no bid is being taken yet.
- To respond, send a short reply to the contracting contact near the top of this page. No price is needed.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 21, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Office
- Technology Acquisition Center NJ (36C10B), Eatontown, NJ
- Product/service code
- DA01 · IT and Telecom – Business Application/Application Development Support Services (labor)
- Business type
- IT, software & telecom (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 541519)
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
Terms on this notice: Sources sought notice
Full notice text from SAM.gov
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