The U.S. Census Bureau is preparing a new small business set-aside BPA, Census Enterprise Transformation & Application Modernization (CENTAM), to modernize applications across the following mission areas: Economic, Demographic, Geospatial, Business, IT, Decennial, and Research Programs.
CENTAM provides a 10-year enterprise framework for application modernization, secure architecture, data transformation, and user-focused solutions. The contract is expected to serve as a long-term modernization hub for the 2030 Census and ongoing economic and demographic data programs. This makes early positioning critical, especially for small businesses that can support cloud migration, secure app development, data science, or enterprise IT management.
OPPORTUNITY SNAPSHOT
- Opportunity: CENTAM – Census Enterprise Transformation & Application Modernization BPA
- Estimated Value: $1B
- Competition Type: Small Business Set-Aside
- Contract Type: BPA – 10-year base
- Estimated RFP Release: December 2025
- Estimated Award: June 2026
- NAICS: 541511 – Custom Computer Programming Services (Size Standard: $34M)
- Place of Performance: Suitland, Maryland (Census HQ)
- Incumbent: This is a new requirement.
This 2030 Census & Decennial Directorate will rely on new technology to generate accurate population and economic data while managing risk and cost. CENTAM will enable the enterprise-wide IT modernization needed to execute that mission and is expected to focus on secure applications, cloud services, data analytics, and advanced architecture.
SCOPE: REQUIRED CAPABILITIES
- Contract management and program oversight
- IT project management and IV&V
- Architecture and engineering services
- Application development, testing, and O&M
- Cloud migration and modernization
- Advanced data science and data management
- Security, access control, and governance
WHAT CONTRACTORS SHOULD DO NOW
- Map past performance to these scope areas
- Assess capability gaps in cloud, analytics, IT management, and architecture
- Evaluate teaming needs for decennial data or geospatial capabilities
- Develop a modernization narrative tied to mission outcomes
- Prepare to demonstrate cybersecurity and secure app design
HOW OST CAN HELP
OST supports small businesses preparing for CENTAM through:
- Capability gap analysis and CENTAM-specific positioning strategy
- Teaming support for data, geospatial, or cloud partnerships
- Capture strategy tied to Census mission needs, including by identifying strong win themes.
- Proposal development and color team support
- Compliance documentation and BPA readiness artifacts
CENTAM early preparation will determine who competes and who watches from the sidelines.
