What You Get When You Get a “Seat”
Measure your contractor’s performance based on your ability to get the mission accomplished.

Whether you are considering using the GSA Seat Management contract or NASA’s Outsourcing Desktop Initiative contract, the decision to employ Seat Management for your agency activity will put you in a new IT milieu.

First, you will be replacing the older hardware and software you own for contractor-supplied technology. In many cases, this will be state-of-the-art stuff, though it might be better termed “state-of-your-requirements.”

That’s because Seat Management is IT configured not against technical requirements but, rather, the levels of service you need to get your job done. With Seat Management you tell the contractor what you need as it relates to government business, not IT metrics. You then measure your contractor’s performance based on your ability to get the mission accomplished.

Get “Partnered”
The contractors who provide Seat services under the GSA and NASA programs believe they have the experience and expertise to develop a full “partnership” with you based on Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that reflect your business priorities. These service levels might occur in a wide range of disciplines and task areas, and include:

  • The centralized planning, implementation and management of PC operations and maintenance services; software installation; automated inventories; and PC technology refreshment. These are provided by Intellisource Information Systems in its ODIN contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center.
    This multiplatform Seat partnership gives NASA personnel access to MS Windows/NT, Novell, IBM, and MAC OS environments as well as 7x24 Help Desk and consultation. Tools used to manage and maintain the Goddard Seat contract include Oracle databases and HP Openview systems. LAN/WAN support is also provided for Goddard IT users.
  • The implementation of a nationwide Seat configuration includes; a Virtual Private Network; a full menu of desktop hardware and software; and remote access capability. These are provided by DynCorp to the HUD Office of the Inspector General (OIG) as part of the GSA Seat Management contract.
    OIG’s Seat infrastructure is being configured by DynCorp to accommodate standard desktop as well as traveling users and remote or field users. The basic Seat platform will support 62 locations nationwide with enterprise level workflow systems, databases, and mass storage. End-to-end encryption is incorporated across the VPN, which runs on GTE’s global system.
  • The creation of a standardized workstation environment that brought 5,000 ATF users, at 188 locations new hardware; coherent e-mail; Internet access; faster processors; new LANs; enhanced security; user and administrator training; and online help. These are all provided by Unisys Corporation.

ATF’s Seat arrangement pre-dated the advent of SLAs under GSA Seat or ODIN, but has nevertheless given the agency a framework for planning technology refreshment and solidifying asset inventories and management. This lowers the Total Cost of Ownership of IT by effectively transferring to its Seat contractor many of the tasks that drive “soft costs” up in other agencies.

Get Implemented
The decision to move to Seat Management is often the result of a realistic Total Cost of Ownership study of exactly how much IT support (or, the lack of it) is costing agencies. Once the decision has been made to adopt Seat, the effectiveness of the partnership an agency forms with its contractor is considered essential by Seat advocates.

Seat Management projects often hinge on challenges that involve “cultural versus technological change,” said Fred Gantzler, Senior Vice President, Seat Programs at DynCorp. This dramatic transition is eased as “the contractor manages the expectations of users and matches the service requirements,” said Teresa Weipert, a vice president and general manager at Unisys Corp.

There is no question that Seat differs from conventional “outsourcing” to the extent that agencies and contractors maintain a closer interaction throughout the life of a contract.

Karl Leatham, a technology office vice president at NCI Information Systems, called Seat implementation “a two-party operation.” NCI is a GSA Seat Management contractor that also provides IT support to the Defense Department, VA, and numerous other agencies.

“If you look at successful Seat implementations you will find they were well planned and phased, both by the contractor and by the agency,” Leatham said. “Moving to Seat requires large process changes that displace existing contractors and government staff from entrenched roles and relationships. This takes political will, commitment, and a lot of flexibility on both sides. Good planning is the key element.”

But if you have the will, Seat Management might very well be the way.

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