MassGIS - Massachusetts' Master Service Agreement for GIS Services

How MSAs are Established

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, through its’ Operation Services Division (OSD), creates master service agreements (MSAs; also known as “state blanket contracts”). OSD is the state’s procurement agency. Master Service Agreements result from a competitive procurement conducted by procurement teams usually lead by OSD staff. These teams typically consist of employees of state and local government agencies. OSD may also designate other agencies to conduct such procurements on their behalf. Any political subdivision of the Commonwealth may, unless the MSA specifically says otherwise, procure eligible goods and services through MSAs.

What is ITS33

Effective July 1, 2008, the state’s procurement agency, OSD made available an MSA referred to as ITS33 – IT Solution Providers. ITS33 will last for two years with a state option to extend it for an additional year. ITS33 provides a roster of pre-approved companies that can provide IT solutions in a variety of categories. One of those categories is GIS Solution Providers. A member of the MassGIS staff was on the ITS33 procurement team for the GIS Solution Providers sub-category.

ITS33 GIS Solution Providers

The ITS33 GIS solution providers are:

Applied Geographics

Coler and Colantonio

BSC/Geonetics

ESRI

Cambridge Systematics

J. W. Sewall Company

Camp Dresser & McKee

Tighe and Bond

These GIS solution providers were selected competitively based on evaluating their project experience, capacity, experience with GIS data development, experience with web map hosting, references, and experience with open source web mapping software.

Through ITS33, these eight companies can provide an array of GIS services including both GIS data development (automation and database design) and software application development. The former includes data maintenance. The latter may include developing tools to support data development as well as desktop computer applications or intra- or internet applications to provide access to GIS data. Unlike similar previous MSAs, hosting of web mapping applications is permitted under ITS33. Note that data compilation from aerial photography in a stereo imaging environment (planimetric compilation) is not a service that can be procured through ITS33.

Who Can Contract Companies Available Through ITS33?

Any political subdivision (state agency, regional agency or authority, municipal department, etc.) can conduct procurements using the companies on ITS33.

Using ITS33 for GIS Procurements

The GIS solution providers on ITS33 have already completed a competitive procurement process. As part of that process, their qualifications for and experience with providing the GIS services requested has been evaluated. Therefore, Massachusetts government agencies can use GIS service providers on ITS33 without doing a request for proposals process. For municipalities, this means they do not have to go through a “Chapter 30B” procurement process. Instead, public agencies can create a request for qualifications (RFQ) in which they describes the services they seek and send it to only to the ITS33 GIS service providers. You do not have to send your RFQ to all the companies, but it is wise to send it to enough companies so that you have a good likelihood of at least three responses to your RFQ. By taking this approach, you ensure that you receive proposals from qualified companies and a competitive price. Besides the scope of work, your RFQ should provide information concerning schedule and, if appropriate, budget as well as information about how you will evaluate and score the proposals. You must let the recipients of your RFQ know that you are doing your procurement under ITS33. Once you have selected the winning response, you can commence work as soon as you create a purchase order. If you left room in your RFQ for choosing some optional services, be sure to document which services are being procured in your purchase order. You may optionally choose to execute a contract with your selected vendor; your original RFQ can serve as the scope of services for the contract, modified to reflect any optional items you selected or any changes made during negotiations.

Finding Full Information on ITS33

1) Visit the state procurement web site, www.comm-pass.com
2) In the middle of the page, select the link “Search for Contracts”
3) On the search page, under the header “**AND** Search by Specific Criteria”
4) Enter the following search criteria:

Check off that you’re looking for a statewide contract

Enter “ITS33” in the Document Number field

Select “Active” from the Document Status pick list

5) Click on the “Search” button.

When the search finishes, towards the top of the search page, you will see a link that says:
“There are 4 Contract(s) found that match your search criteria” (see graphic below)

6) Click on the link to the 4 contracts.
7) One of the listed contracts that appears is “IT Services – Solution Providers; click on the “eye glasses” icon to the extreme right of this listing. On this next page you will find information about ITS33 Solution Providers. There are various “tabs” on this page including “Summary”, “Forms & Terms”, and “Vendors”.
8) Select the “Vendors” tab; the top listing is “vendor listing”
9) Click on the “eye glasses” icon to the right of the words “vendor listing”
10) Scroll to the bottom of the next page and click on the eyeglass icon to the right of the document described as “vendor spreadsheet”
11) Open the spreadsheet and view details on all the ITS33 solution providers; one of the columns in the spreadsheet tells you the sub-category in which the company is listed.

Other Services Available Through ITS33

Software and Systems Development
Systems Integration and Networking
Systems Planning
Information Security