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governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC)

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A governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC) is a contract between a commercial IT service or product vendor and the U.S. government that consolidates the procurement of IT solutions across multiple federal agencies.  A GWAC is a multiple-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (MA/IDIQ) contract, meaning that federal agencies can purchase an unlimited number of products or service hours under a single GWAC during a specified period of time.

By centralizing the procurement of IT products and services, GWACs allow agencies to take advantage of the government’s immense buying power, which can help lower prices. Agencies place task orders against an existing GWAC for the products and services they wish to purchase. This can be done through agency staff or via the GSA’s Assisted Acquisition Services Division. Because the contract is already established, this method is supposed to save agencies time and money.   

Agencies are required to justify new GWACs in order to reduce the number of contracts issued. There are currently 10 GWACs managed by three agencies – NASA, GSA and the National Institute of Health.

Read more:

The official GSA government website

OMB: Agencies will need to justify creating their own contracts

This was last updated in March 2011
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