Thomas Phippen on June 28, 2016  by The Daily Caller News Foundation

The federal government has requested proposals from businesses in the biggest IT contract of the decade. The General Services Administration (GSA) announced the final solicitation Tuesday for an unlimited number of IT contracts with a total ceiling of $50 billion.

The contract vehicle, which the GSA calls Alliant 2 and includes a separate solicitation for small businesses, will procure digital technology, including cloud services, data center, helpdesk support and other IT products for agencies across the federal government, from the Department of Defense to the Office of Personnel Management.

Alliant 2 replaces a similar $50 billion contract that expires in 2019. The contract “provides a common framework and terminology for defining and understanding components of an IT solution,” officials from analytics firm Deltek told NextGov in March.

GSA administrators say that while the Alliant 2 platform allows government agencies flexibility to meet new technology standards, there may be a need to increase spending in the future.

“GSA’s proven track record of strong and successful GWACs, along with a shift toward fewer duplicative and redundant contracts across government, could lead to dramatic increased use of Alliant 2 and Alliant 2 Small Business in the future and the need for a higher ceiling value over their respective periods of performance,” Casey Kelley, Alliant 2 program manager and acting director of GSA’s GWAC programs, told Federal Times.

The Alliant program also has the potential to save taxpayers money, the GSA says.

“These next-gen Alliant vehicles have great potential to provide agencies with new IT offerings, expanded scope and flexible options while driving down costs for the American taxpayer,” Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for GSA’s Office of Integrated Technology Services, said in a statement.

Alliant 2 represents only part of Obama administration’s total IT budget of $89 billion for 2017. For perspective, the United States Marine Corps requested $23 billion for fiscal year 2017.