GWAC (Government-Wide Acquisition Contract)

What is GWAC?

A Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) is a pre-competed indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for information technology that is available for use across the federal government, not just by the agency that awarded it. GWACs are operated by agencies that have been designated as executive agents for governmentwide IT acquisition; well-known examples are run by GSA and NASA. Because the base vehicle is already competed and established, ordering agencies can acquire IT solutions through task or delivery orders rather than running a full solicitation.

GWACs are typically multiple-award, often with socio-economic tracks (for example, small-business or 8(a) pools) so that orders can be set aside to qualifying awardees. Like other IDIQs, they carry a ceiling and an ordering period, and order-level fair-opportunity competition among awardees generally applies. They are distinct from agency-specific IDIQs in their governmentwide availability and from GSA Schedules in being competed, capped vehicles rather than open-enrollment schedules.

For vendors, a GWAC seat is a significant, hard-won channel into federal IT spend; winning one is highly competitive and infrequent (award cycles are years apart). As with any multiple-award vehicle, holding the contract is the entry ticket — revenue depends on winning the subsequent task orders.