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Mass changes coming to all GSA Schedule contracts; webinar to be held on April 10

March 29, 2019 By Nancy Cleveland

The General Services Administration (GSA) is planning to “refresh” all GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) solicitations and issue a mass modification to existing contracts in April.  The changes include:

  • Updating proposal instructions to require order status on GSA Advantage! Orders.
  • Updating proposal instructions related to Section 508 Standards and information.
  • Incorporating new Service Contract Act (SCA) Wage Determinations.
  • Updating AbilityOne “Essentially the Same” Proposal Instructions.
  • Incorporating minor updates from FAC 2019-01 (defining “recruitment fees” in relationship to Combating Trafficking in Persons rules), as applicable.

In addition, individual Schedules may be updated with additional clauses or provisions to make clarifications, administrative corrections, and other required changes.

GSA will issue a bilateral modification to apply the changes to existing MAS contracts.  Contractors will have 90 days to accept the mass modification.

Please see Draft Significant Changes document for more detailed information on the upcoming refresh.

Note: This is the final set of solicitation refreshes before GSA consolidates the 24 existing MAS solicitations into a single Schedule for products and services. To learn more about MAS Transformation, read GSA’s Nov. 27, 2018 press release.

Webinar Offered

Register now for GSA’s April 10, 2019 public webinar about upcoming changes to MAS solicitations. This webinar will be in a listen-only format with the ability for participants to ask questions via an online chat function.

●         Date: Wednesday April 10, 2019

●         Time:  1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern Time

●         Registration Link

 

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Advantage, GSA Schedule, MAS, multiple award schedule, refresh, webinar

Contractor forfeits $1.7 million in assets, pleads guilty to delivery of cheap versions of products

November 14, 2018 By Nancy Cleveland

Jim A. Meron, owner of California-based WOW Imaging Products LLC and Time Enterprises LLC, has pled guilty to wire fraud related to a procurement fraud scheme involving the General Service Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule program and a Department of Defense (DoD) electronic ordering system.

According to court documents, between May 2011 and July 2017, Meron used his two office supply businesses to defraud federal government agencies out of as much as $3.5 million — involving thousands of transactions — by substituting and delivering cheaper, generic versions of expensive, name-brand products his customers ordered, and pocketing the price difference. As part of his plea, Meron agreed to forfeit more than $1.7 million in assets seized during the investigation of his crimes.

Meron’s companies contracted to sell office supplies to federal agencies through two web-based government sales portals, GSA Advantage and DoD eMall.  After Meron received payments for the premium products his customers ordered, he obtained compatible products from his suppliers that cost him a fraction of what his customer paid for the brand-name products they ordered.  Meron then substituted and delivered those cheaper products for the more expensive products his customers ordered, and retained the difference in cost.  Over time, Meron extended his substitution scheme to nearly all orders for those name-brand products, and never intended to deliver what his customers ordered.

This case is the product of an investigation by GSA’s Office of Inspector General and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

Meron is scheduled to be sentenced on February 4, 2019.  Meron faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of conviction. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/granite-bay-man-pleads-guilty-multi-million-dollar-product-substitution-fraud-federal

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: DCIA, DoD, DOJ, eMall, Federal Supply Schedule, fraud, FSS, generic, GSA, GSA Advantage, GSA Schedule, guilty plea, Justice Dept., name brand, OIG, product substitution, wire fraud

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