Contractors had their doubts when the General Services Administration sun-setted FedBizOpps, the dated web site where agencies listed federal opportunities. The General Services Administration replaced it with a system called Beta.Sam.gov. According to Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, contractors are finding the new system isn’t much better than the old, and in some ways worse.
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The transition of the federal contracting opportunities website from Federal Business Opportunities, better known as FedBizOpps or FBO, to the Contracting Opportunities page of beta.SAM.gov caused concern ahead of the migration and frustration after the move. Three months after the transition finished, the government contracting community’s anger has yet to be assuaged.
Last week, the Professional Services Council—an industry group representing 400 federal contractors—sent a letter to the General Services Administration detailing its members’ concerns and asking for immediate action.
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As some of you may already know, the Federal Business Opportunities website – commonly referred to as “FedBizOpps” or “FBO” – is not going to be around much longer. The site will be decommissioned by November 8th of this year, with the site’s “critical functionality” being moved over to/merged with the System for Award Management (“SAM”) as early as first quarter 2020. However, we are not talking about the same old SAM that contractors may be used to; FBO’s functions will be moved over to a new system at beta.SAM.gov
According to a fact sheet issued by the GSA, “one the transition is complete, beta.SAM.gov will have the same federal business opportunity capabilities that are found today in FBO.gov.” You will still be able to follow contract opportunities, and save searches, but the processes used to do so (and the related terminology) might vary slightly. The new system will also boast some improvements over the old flawed-but-familiar FedBizOpps, including…
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GSA has announced recently that FedBizOpps.gov (FBO.gov) will be decommissioned and its critical functionality will be transitioned into beta.SAM.gov on November 8, 2019. GSA has published a fact sheet with important information about the transition. You can access and download the fact sheet here:
The General Services Administration released two pre-cursors to major acquisitions last week with the release of the draft solicitation for the $8 billion back-office cloud procurement and a request for information to expand the Centers of Excellence initiative.
The Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and GSA launched a major cloud and IT modernization effort by announcing an industry day on Feb. 26 in Washington, D.C.
And the Office of Personnel Management is exploring how to create a central portal for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.
These are just a few of the more than 4,700 requests for proposals, RFIs and awards released on FedBizOpps.gov in the week after the partial government shutdown ended, opening up the acquisition floodgates.
Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook/2019/02/gsa-releases-new-it-modernization-rfi-in-post-shutdown-procurement-deluge/
Some users are reporting issues accessing the Federal Business Opportunities website — www.fbo.gov — but it is not clear whether the problems are technical in nature or related to the government shutdown.
Nextgov learned of the issue from readers through email and Twitter.
The FBO site is the portal through which the federal government engages with industry regarding procurements, acquisitions and requests for information, quotes or proposals. Any issue with the FBO site could further complicate the situation for contractors, who are dealing with their own batch of shutdown-related problems. Contracting experts suggest that vendor should submit questions and bids according to previously posted deadlines, even if the contracting agency is shut down.
FBO.gov is operated by the General Services Administration (GSA), which did not respond to questions from Nextgov by press time.
Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/01/users-report-issues-federal-business-opportunities-website/153925/
The General Services Administration (GSA) hopes a new pilot program to increase transparency in a fast track government buying service will lead to more competition, but some government vendors worry it will just produce more legal wrangling.
Over the next year, GSA is going to be publicly releasing data from some buyers in its eBuy system for the first time.
The eBuy system allows agencies to post requests for quotations for specific products and services on GSA schedules. Those requests are then released to vendors based on the special item number associated with the goods or services being sought. Once the bids are entered, the contracting officers can make awards directly, though there is little transparency for those not directly involved in the process.
Over the next year, pilot participants will log awards based on eBuy RFQs on the FedBizOpps website. Those awards will be tagged with the keyword “eBuyPilot.”
Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/10/gsa-hopes-ebuy-transparency-will-lead-more-competition-not-more-protests/152140/
As the General Services Administration continues to build out the next iteration of a federal contractor web portal, the agency is looking for volunteers to test new functionalities incorporating contracting information from the Federal Business Opportunities site.
The Integrated Award Environment—the office charged with developing technological solutions and systems for contracting, grants and loans—put out a call for volunteers to test the new application program interface, or API. The API integrates FedBizOpps data with the beta version of the System for Award Management site, SAM.gov.
With an API, users can get automatic updates on new FedBizOpps posts, such as new contracting opportunities, updates to existing solicitations and requests for information.
“APIs allow computers to exchange pre-formatted data so that human intervention is not required,” according to the call for volunteers. “The API provides public opportunities—FBO—data in a format that is easy for other systems/applications to ingest.”
Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/05/gsa-needs-vendor-volunteers-test-fedbizopps-api/148136/
Contractors would be wise to keep a close watch on FedBizOpps.gov, otherwise they run the risk missing the chance to protest a sole source award.
When an agency decides to make an award without competition, it often must publish a Justification and Approval (referred to simply as a “J&A”) on FedBizOpps explaining why a competition would not meet the agency’s needs. A potential competitor seeking to protest such an award at the GAO must file the protest before 10 days have passed from publication of the J&A, otherwise the protest may be untimely. A competitor that is not paying attention could be out of luck.
GAO dismissed a protest of a sole source award earlier this month where the protestor missed the cutoff by just one day. The protest, Western Star Hospital Authority, Inc., B-414198.2 (June 7, 2017) involved an Army procurement for ambulance services for the U.S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
The work was originally competed, and Western Star Hospital Authority, Inc. submitted a proposal. The Army rejected Western Star’s proposal, saying that Western Star had not proposed pricing for all CLINs, as required by the solicitation.
Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/eagle-eye-government-may-slip-a-sole-source-award-past-an-unaware-contractor/
The Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) reminds our clients — and especially small businesses — that it’s very important for you to respond to what are known as “Sources Sought” and “Requests for Information” published by federal agencies periodically in FedBizOpps.
When an agency issues a Sources Sought or an RFI, they are trying to identify sources that can fulfill their buying needs and determine whether there is potential for a small business set-aside and obtain other marketplace information for acquisition planning purposes.
“Some vendors may not take the time to respond to a Sources Sought/RFI. Instead, they may focus their efforts on preparation for a bid when the solicitation comes out,” explains Sherry Savage, Program Manager for the Defense Logistics Agency’s Procurement Technical Assistance Program. “For the vendor, however, the Sources Sought/RFI is their chance to influence the acquisition strategy. If capable companies do not respond, the opportunity for a set-aside may be lost.”
Sources Sought and RFIs can be found using the “Advanced Search” function in FedBizOpps. More than 6,400 of this type of procurement opportunity were published in calendar year 2016.
When responding to a Sources Sought or an RFI, it’s important to pay attention to the detail specified as needed by the federal agency. “Provide thoughtful input — don’t just send a capabilities statement,” advises Ms. Savage. “The vendor should put together a personalized package that concisely answers the questions asked in the Sources Sought/RFI.”
If you have questions regarding a particular Sources Sought or RFI, you should contact the government agency’s point of contact (POC) provided in the notice.
And, of course, for assistance with or advice about responding to a particular Sources Sought or RFI, feel free to contact your nearest GTPAC procurement counselor found here: http://gtpac.org/team-directory. (Outside the State of Georgia? Find a PTAC located near you here: http://www.aptac-us.org/find-a-ptac)
For more details about how to respond to a Sources Sought or an RFI, please consult our earlier article on this subject at: http://gtpac.org/2010/09/what-is-a-sources-sought-heres-the-answer
