GSA Announces $2.5 Billion Modernization of Federal Payroll and Leave Systems

The General Services Administration on Thursday issued a pre-solicitation notice seeking contractors to upgrade the payroll systems serving 2.2 million civilian federal employees.

Companies holding GSA IT Schedule 70 contracts, SINs 132-40 and 132-51, will be eligible to compete for one or more blanket purchase agreements off of which agencies can order services, according to the May 17 notice. The blanket purchase agreements will last for 10-13 years and are expected to have a ceiling of more than $2.5 billion.

In addition to modernizing payroll services, the “NewPay” initiative will encompass work schedule and leave management systems. The goal is “to shift operations and maintenance of payroll functions to innovative commercial solutions using the Software as a Service (SaaS) model,” GSA said in its announcement of the pre-solicitation notice. “This will enable agencies to focus more resources on core mission priorities and deploy modern and secure work schedule, leave management and payroll solutions to support a modern workforce.” 

Agencies' payrolls were last consolidated during the George W. Bush administration, which narrowed 26 payroll providers down to four, saving more than $1 billion over 10 years, GSA said. The latest modernization initiative fits with the President’s Management Agenda cross-agency priority goals of sharing quality services and IT modernization, GSA noted.

“NewPay potentially benefits every federal civilian employee in the executive branch, including the civilian workforce within the armed services and quasi-federal agencies,” GSA stated. “NewPay will provide user friendly self-service options, future cost-avoidance and increased efficiency in a secure environment.”

The pre-solicitation notice will close on June 1.