NITAAC cancelled the $50 billion CIO-SP4 IT services GWAC in early 2026 after nearly five years of protests. Here is the timeline, the stated reason, what happens to CIO-SP3, and where the work is going.
Last reviewed on September 28, 2026.
CIO-SP4 (Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners 4) was planned as the successor to CIO-SP3, the government-wide acquisition contract (GWAC) run by the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC). It was structured as a family of IDIQ contracts with a $50 billion ceiling, covering IT services with a health and biomedical emphasis but open to any federal agency. It was to include an unrestricted track and small business, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, and WOSB tracks, with bidders self-scoring against task areas such as CIO support, software development, IT operations and maintenance, cybersecurity, digital government, and cloud services.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| May 25, 2021 | NITAAC issues the CIO-SP4 request for proposals. |
| Late 2021 | Pre-award protests at GAO challenge solicitation terms; GAO partially sustains a protest over the treatment of mentor-protégé joint ventures, and the solicitation is amended. |
| 2022–2023 | Hundreds of protests reach GAO over NITAAC's evaluation and self-scoring approach. In 2023 GAO sustains dozens of them, and NITAAC commits to corrective action. |
| Early 2024 | Disappointed offerors take their challenges to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, where 39 companies' cases are consolidated. CIO-SP3 is extended to avoid a gap in service. |
| January 2025 | The court remands proposals to NITAAC for re-evaluation; the remand is extended several times during 2025. |
| March 20, 2025 | Executive Order 14240 directs consolidation of common-goods and IT GWAC procurement under GSA. |
| End of January 2026 | HHS notifies the Court of Federal Claims that it is cancelling the CIO-SP4 solicitation in its entirety. CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 SB are extended through April 29, 2027. |
| Early February 2026 | The cancellation becomes public; NITAAC states the decision had nothing to do with the protests. |
| June 9, 2026 | NITAAC notice: CIO-SP3, CIO-SP3 SB, and CIO-CS will sunset. New orders awarded on or after June 8, 2026 may not run past December 31, 2028. |
| October 29, 2026 | Last day to award new orders on any NITAAC GWAC. |
| December 31, 2028 | HHS/NIH cease all NITAAC program functions, including fee collection and administration of assisted orders. |
HHS cited Executive Order 14240, Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement, and OMB Memorandum M-25-31. The order designates the GSA Administrator as executive agent for government-wide IT acquisition contracts and pushes agencies to consolidate common buying at GSA. HHS concluded that the requirements CIO-SP4 was meant to cover are now redundant to existing GSA solutions and that it would not continue re-evaluating the offers still under remand.
The years of protests made CIO-SP4 a byword for a stalled procurement, but NITAAC said the protests were not the reason for the cancellation. The same consolidation logic later led HHS to announce the sunset of every NITAAC GWAC, not only CIO-SP4.
CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business had been extended repeatedly while CIO-SP4 was tied up in litigation. With the cancellation, they were extended through April 29, 2027. The June 2026 sunset notice then moved the practical end date forward:
If you hold CIO-SP3 task orders, their end dates are now your recompete dates. Expect the follow-on work to be competed on a GSA vehicle, and make sure you hold, or have a teaming path onto, the vehicle your customer is likely to use.
| Vehicle | Sponsor | Best for | Status (Sept. 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alliant 3 | GSA | Large, complex enterprise IT solutions (unrestricted) | 43 Phase 1 awards announced February 20, 2026 from 133 proposals; GSA plans up to 76 awards (plus ties) and is still evaluating the rest. |
| Polaris | GSA | Small business IT services, including emerging technology | Pools for small business, HUBZone, SDVOSB, and WOSB firms, awarded in phases since late 2024. |
| 8(a) STARS III | GSA | 8(a) IT services, with directed-award authority | Active. |
| OASIS+ | GSA | Professional services, including mission work with IT components | Active, with periodic on-ramps. |
| GSA MAS (IT category) | GSA | IT services, software, and hardware across the broadest scope | Continuously open to new offers. |
| NASA SEWP | NASA | IT products and product-based services | SEWP VI awarded; ordering expected to begin November 1, 2026. SEWP V extended through January 31, 2027. |
For health IT work that used to default to CIO-SP3, expect agencies to split requirements by size and socioeconomic status: large integrations toward Alliant 3, small business work toward Polaris, STARS III, or MAS set-asides, and product-heavy buys toward SEWP.
Yes. NITAAC cancelled the CIO-SP4 solicitation in its entirety. HHS notified the U.S. Court of Federal Claims at the end of January 2026, and the cancellation was made public in early February 2026. No CIO-SP4 contracts will be awarded.
HHS cited Executive Order 14240, Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement (March 20, 2025), and OMB Memorandum M-25-31, concluding that the requirements CIO-SP4 was meant to cover are now redundant to existing GSA solutions. NITAAC said the decision was driven by procurement consolidation, not by the years of bid protests.
Only until October 29, 2026. When CIO-SP4 was cancelled, CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business were extended through April 29, 2027, but a June 9, 2026 NITAAC notice set October 29, 2026 as the last day to award new orders under CIO-SP3, CIO-SP3 SB, and CIO-CS. Orders awarded on or after June 8, 2026 cannot run past December 31, 2028, when NITAAC program functions end.
There is no single successor. Requirements are expected to move to GSA vehicles: Alliant 3 for large enterprise IT, Polaris for small business IT services, 8(a) STARS III for 8(a) firms, OASIS+ for professional services with IT components, the Multiple Award Schedule IT category, and NASA SEWP for IT products and product-based services.
Treat the proposal as a sunk cost and reuse its content. The self-scoring evidence, past performance write-ups, and task area narratives map closely to what GSA vehicles ask for. Check which GSA vehicles are open or on-ramping, get onto the Multiple Award Schedule if you are not already, and pursue teaming roles with Alliant 3, Polaris, STARS III, and OASIS+ holders. If you hold CIO-SP3 task orders, plan the recompete path now, because new CIO-SP3 orders stop after October 29, 2026.
Almost five years. NITAAC issued the solicitation on May 25, 2021. It then went through pre-award protests, hundreds of GAO protests in 2022 and 2023 (dozens of them sustained), Court of Federal Claims litigation starting in early 2024, a court remand for re-evaluation in January 2025, and repeated remand extensions before the cancellation in early 2026.
Sources: Nextgov/FCW on the cancellation, Federal News Network, NITAAC notice on CIO-SP3, CIO-SP3 SB, and CIO-CS, and Executive Order 14240. General information, not legal advice.