What Past Performance Does TDS-IS Bring to Federal IT Acquisitions?

Direct Answer for Federal Buyers

TDS-IS holds three documented IT-services performance records relevant to federal source selection: a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set-aside firm-fixed-price delivery for the Department of Veterans Affairs (Contract 36C25821P0341), pre-qualified vendor status with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) under RFP #5-2021 with the renewal RFP #12-2026 submitted, and a same-day incident response with the Montgomery County Fiscal Court in Kentucky in June 2025. Federal contracting officers and prime teaming leads can verify each through SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and customer-side reference contact coordinated through TDS-IS.

Why Does Past Performance Dominate Federal Source Selection for IT Services?

Federal source selection in IT services is decided on past performance more than capability marketing. Under FAR 15.305(a)(2)(i), past performance is a non-cost evaluation factor that contracting officers must consider for currency, relevance, and recency. The General Services Administration evaluation guidance and the Department of Defense Source Selection Procedures both treat past performance as a confidence rating that translates directly to selection probability.

The administrative engine behind that evaluation is the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Under FAR 42.15 and the CPARS Policy Guide, agencies are required to enter performance evaluations on contracts above the FAR 42.1502 thresholds (generally $1 million for non-construction contracts). Those evaluations populate the Past Performance Information Retrieval System data set, which contracting officers query directly during source selection. A capability statement tells a contracting officer what TDS-IS says it can do. CPARS, USASpending.gov records, and direct customer references tell the contracting officer what TDS-IS has actually done.

For SDVOSB IT firms, the weight of each individual performance record is materially higher than for a large integrator. A large prime contractor with a hundred CPARS entries can absorb a single below-average rating without competitive damage. A small business with three records cannot. This is one reason TDS-IS treats every engagement as a future past-performance reference and documents scope, period of performance, and outcomes at the contract level, not at the marketing-deck level. For the broader SDVOSB-side framing of how certification interacts with capability evaluation, see our pillar at SDVOSB Federal IT Contracting: The Definitive Guide.

What Past Performance Records Does TDS-IS Have on File?

TDS-IS's documented past performance covers two federal customers and two State, Local, and Education (SLED) customers across two states. The summary table below lists each engagement at the contract level. Full case studies for each are linked in the cluster panel above and at the end of this guide.

Every dollar value, contract number, and period of performance shown is verifiable. The VA record is public on USASpending.gov. The LFUCG pre-qualification is confirmed through the LFUCG Division of Central Purchasing under the Kentucky Open Records Act. The Montgomery County engagement is verifiable through Fiscal Court meeting minutes (the bond-approval meeting was held June 17, 2025) and through the Treasurer's office. A senior-living portfolio commercial reference covering four HIPAA-covered communities is available as supplemental past performance per FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv); it is not included in this federal/SLED-only table.

How Can a Contracting Officer Verify TDS-IS Past Performance?

Federal buyers and prime BD leads can verify each engagement through three independent channels. The first is SAM.gov entity verification: TDS-IS is active under UEI H883URPYC4J7 and CAGE 8J6T6 with primary North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541513 (Computer Facilities Management Services). SDVOSB and VOSB designations are current through SBA VetCert at veterans.certify.sba.gov, with renewal due June 11, 2026.

The second is USASpending.gov, which carries the public award record for VA Contract 36C25821P0341 including the contracting office (258-Network Contracting Office 22G), set-aside type, NAICS, Product Service Code (PSC), period of performance, and total obligated value.

The third is reference through TDS-IS at [email protected]. Customer-side reference contacts on the engagements documented in this guide are coordinated through TDS-IS rather than published. Federal buyers and prime BD leads requiring direct customer-side reference contact TDS-IS, and TDS-IS arranges the introduction. The public verification mechanisms behind that direct-reference path are the LFUCG Division of Central Purchasing and the Kentucky Open Records Act (KRS 61.870 et seq.) for LFUCG records, the Montgomery County Fiscal Court public meeting record for the Montgomery engagement, and the USASpending.gov award record for the federal contract.

One caveat applies to FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP) orders. The Veterans Affairs purchase order under Contract 36C25821P0341 was competed under SAP, with three offers received, and obligated $32,435.49. CPARS reporting under FAR 42.1502 is required for non-construction contracts above $1 million, so no CPARS report exists for this purchase order. The verification path for SAP-tier orders is the public USASpending record supplemented by reference through TDS-IS.

How Does TDS-IS Scope and Deliver Federal IT Engagements?

The TDS-IS engagement model is built around four discrete phases that map cleanly to federal contracting rhythm. The model is the same whether TDS-IS is performing as a prime under an SDVOSB set-aside, as a subcontractor on a prime's IDIQ task order, or as a SLED preferred vendor responding to a county purchase order.

Phase 1: Statement of Work scoping. TDS-IS produces a Statement of Work (SOW) within 3-5 business days of solicitation receipt (or immediately for emergency situations). The SOW defines deliverables, period of performance, named key personnel, assumptions, dependencies, and acceptance criteria. This is the same scoping discipline TDS-IS has applied across the four engagements documented above.

Phase 2: Kickoff and ramp. A named project lead is assigned to every engagement at award. Security posture handoff, baseline documentation, and customer-facing communication channels are established in the first week. For federal engagements, this includes confirmation of the security posture required for any Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) handling, with controls aligned to NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2.

Phase 3: Execution and reporting. Weekly status reporting is the default cadence, adjusted by SOW. Agile methodology is applied to iterative work; waterfall is applied to fixed-scope deliverables. The standard tooling stack across all engagements includes Kaseya 365 for endpoint management, IT Glue for documentation, Datto for backup and disaster recovery, Microsoft 365 for productivity, and Autotask for ticketing and time entry.

Phase 4: Closeout and lessons learned. Final deliverable review, lessons learned documentation, and CPARS posture review (where applicable) are completed at engagement close. Knowledge-transfer artifacts (runbooks, SOPs, training material) are delivered to the customer suitable for in-house staff to maintain.

For DoD-bound work where CUI is in scope, TDS-IS is pursuing CMMC Level 2 readiness with a current System Security Plan (SSP), a Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M), and a posted SPRS self-assessment score. See CMMC Compliance for Small Defense Contractors: The Complete Guide for the complete readiness framework.

How Does TDS-IS Evaluate Fit Before Bidding?

TDS-IS uses an explicit bid/no-bid framework before responding to any federal or SLED solicitation. The framework draws on the RSM Federal "ghosting" methodology and applies five gates in sequence. A no-go on any single gate is a no-bid, regardless of how attractive the other four look.

Gate 1: NAICS alignment. The solicitation NAICS must match an active TDS-IS SAM.gov NAICS, with TDS-IS coded as small under that NAICS size standard per 13 CFR Part 121. Primary NAICS is 541513 (Computer Facilities Management Services). Secondary registered NAICS include 541512, 541519, 541511, and 518210.

Gate 2: Set-aside type. TDS-IS evaluates whether the acquisition is set aside for SDVOSB under VA Veterans First (38 USC 8127) or under standard FAR 19.1405 authority, set aside for VOSB, set aside for small business broadly, or competed full-and-open. Set-aside fit is one of the strongest single predictors of award probability for an SDVOSB IT firm.

Gate 3: Period of performance versus team capacity. TDS-IS does not bid scope it cannot deliver. Realistic capacity assessment, including ramp time to bring on subject-matter experts, is part of every gate review.

Gate 4: Cybersecurity posture required versus delivered. If the solicitation requires CMMC Level 2 certification at award, TDS-IS evaluates whether the readiness work can be completed in time. If the solicitation requires NIST SP 800-171 self-assessment with a posted SPRS score, that documentation is standing.

Gate 5: Past-performance relevance. Currency, recency, and size relevance are evaluated against the three documented engagements above. A solicitation requiring SDVOSB set-aside delivery aligns to the VA record. A solicitation requiring SLED competitive procurement compliance aligns to the LFUCG record. A solicitation requiring same-day public-sector incident response aligns to the Montgomery County record.

How Does TDS-IS Look in a Teaming Arrangement?

TDS-IS works in three distinct teaming postures depending on the opportunity: as a prime under SDVOSB set-asides, as a subcontractor under a large prime's unrestricted IDIQ, and as a Joint Venture partner under 13 CFR 125.18 SDVOSB JV rules with the Mentor-Protege exception under 13 CFR 125.9.

For prime contractors carrying SDVOSB subcontracting plan goals under FAR 19.704 Individual Subcontracting Plans, TDS-IS is teaming-ready with current SDVOSB and VOSB certification, NDA / Teaming Agreement / Contractor Teaming Arrangement (CTA) templates ready, and a 24-hour response SLA on Sources Sought notices. The four documented past-performance records above all support sub-tier credit on subcontracting plan reporting through the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System (eSRS). For the prime-side framing of how to evaluate, structure, and contract with an SDVOSB IT subcontractor, see our pillar at How Do Primes Evaluate, Structure, and Contract with an SDVOSB IT Subcontractor?

The Commercially Useful Function (CUF) requirement under 13 CFR 125.6 is the qualitative test every TDS-IS subcontract scope is built to satisfy: distinct, performable scope, named labor categories, named deliverables, named performance metrics, and TDS-IS personnel performing the work using TDS-IS systems. No pass-through arrangements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does TDS-IS have a CPARS rating on the VA contract? No. Contract 36C25821P0341 was a Simplified Acquisition Procedures purchase order under FAR Part 13 valued at $32,435.49, below the FAR 42.1502 $1 million threshold for mandatory CPARS reporting on non-construction contracts. Verification path is the public USASpending.gov record plus reference through TDS-IS at [email protected].

What is TDS-IS's largest single contract value to date on a federal or SLED instrument? $32,435.49, awarded under VA Contract 36C25821P0341 on September 29, 2021. The contract was a 100% SDVOSB set-aside firm-fixed-price purchase order under FAR Part 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures, performed October 1 through December 30, 2021.

Can a federal contracting officer use SLED past performance during source selection? Yes. Under FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv), a contracting officer may consider past performance information from any source the CO determines relevant. State and local government past performance is regularly accepted for federal civilian IT acquisitions, particularly when the SLED engagement was competed under a public procurement code that mirrors federal procurement discipline. TDS-IS's LFUCG incumbency under RFP #5-2021 was competed under the Kentucky Model Procurement Code (KRS Chapter 45A), which provides exactly that procurement-discipline analog.

Can TDS-IS provide commercial references in addition to federal past performance? Yes. A senior-living portfolio operator in Colorado contracts with TDS-IS for managed IT services covering four HIPAA-covered Assisted Living and Memory Care communities, with a 36-month term and signed expansion framework to 11 communities. Federal evaluators handle commercial past performance under FAR 15.305(a)(2)(iv); commercial references are available on request as supplemental support.

Is TDS-IS qualified to perform on contracts requiring CMMC Level 2? TDS-IS is pursuing CMMC Level 2 readiness aligned to NIST SP 800-171. No Controlled Unclassified Information has been processed on the existing federal engagements documented here. For DoD work that flows DFARS 252.204-7021 down to subcontractors, TDS-IS will produce a current System Security Plan, a Plan of Action and Milestones, and a Supplier Performance Risk System self-assessment score on request. See the CMMC compliance reference for details on the readiness sequence.

How do primes engage TDS-IS for teaming? Email [email protected] or use the teaming page at tds-is.com/capability-statement. NDA, Teaming Agreement, and CTA templates are ready. Sources Sought response SLA is 24 hours.

TDS-IS as a Federal IT Past-Performance-Backed SDVOSB

Trinity Data Solutions and IT Services, LLC (TDS-IS) is a certified SDVOSB and VOSB managed IT services provider. CAGE 8J6T6. UEI H883URPYC4J7. SDVOSB and VOSB designations active in SAM.gov through SBA VetCert at veterans.certify.sba.gov, with renewal due June 11, 2026.

The three documented past-performance records above span federal SDVOSB delivery, SLED civilian government qualification under a competitive procurement code, and SLED civilian same-day incident response. Together, they demonstrate TDS-IS performing under public-sector procurement discipline. Each record is verifiable through SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, public meeting records, or customer-side reference contact coordinated through TDS-IS. None require taking marketing claims at face value.

For federal contracting officers running source selection on SDVOSB-eligible IT acquisitions, for prime contractor BD leads evaluating subcontracting plan teaming partners on T4NG2-class IDIQs, GSA Multiple Award Schedule task orders, or SeaPort-NxG and CIO-SP4 acquisitions, and for SLED procurement officers in jurisdictions that recognize federal-grade past performance, the TDS-IS portfolio is a discriminator that justifies further conversation. View the full capability statement at tds-is.com/capability-statement, or contact us through the contact page to discuss a specific opportunity.