Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

GSA preps guidance for using CMMC in civilian contracts

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The General Services Administration wants to get ahead on training and education materials contracting officers will need as Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification requirements become standard in government contracts.

Keith Nakasone, the GSA’s deputy assistant commissioner for IT acquisition, said the agency is developing ordering guides for contracting officers who use government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs).

“We know that training is going to be required as we go through this process with our Department of Defense partners,” Nakasone said during an AFFIRM event on CMMC on Feb. 17.  “So as we move forward, we want to present an ordering guide where we have created templates, some guidance in our ordering process [on] how to use the GSA contract.”

Continue reading at:  FCW

GSA Region 4 OSDBU hosting small business webinar

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The General Services Administration, Region 4, Regional Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization his holding a webinar entitled “Small Business Contracting & Support During COVID-19.”

Join GSA for a collaborative discussion on federal contract opportunities with various Federal Agencies during COVID-19.

In addition, learn about the second phase of the PPP loan process via the Small Business Administration.

Participating Federal Agencies:

  • U.S. General Services Administration
  • U.S. Small Business Administration
  • Center for Disease Control
  • Federal Aviation Administration
  • Department of Veterans Affairs

DATE:  Wednesday, May 6, 2020

TIME:  2:30 – 4:00 pm, ET

Web-Conferencing via MeetingSpace.

Webinar URL will be provided once you register:  REGISTER HERE

This event is free of charge, but space is limited.

For more information on this event or for special accommodations, please contact r4smallbiz@gsa.gov

Podcast: Contractors facing challenges transferring over to beta.sam.gov

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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.

Listen to the podcast at:  Federal News Network

GSA keeping ‘on track’ with schedule consolidation

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The General Services Administration has begun the process of updating pre-existing contracts to meet the terms and conditions of its recently consolidated acquisition schedule.

GSA consolidated 24 schedules for finding and purchasing solutions into one Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) on Oct. 1 to modernize acquisition for federal, state and local agencies.

New contracts are placed on the consolidated schedule, while pre-existing contracts must be modified to be placed on the consolidated schedule — the second phase of the process known as Mass Modification.  Schedule holders have until July 31 to accept the Mass Mod that GSA started issuing Friday, or else their offerings will no longer be accessible on GSA’s eTools platform.

Continue reading at:  fedscoop

GSA’s big changes in 2020, part 4: DUNS to UEI

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In addition to Federal Supply Schedule consolidation, GSA is replacing the official identifier federal government contractors use.  Specifically, GSA is transitioning from and will stop using the Dun & Bradstreet (“D&B”) proprietary system for verification and validation of entities registering to do business with the federal government.  Effective December 2020, GSA intends to have transitioned all government systems away from using D&B Data Universal Numbering System numbers (“DUNS”) and instead using new Unique Entity Identifiers (“UEI”).  The UEI is a new, nonproprietary identifier that will be assigned through GSA’s System for Award Management (“SAM”) registration process.

Continue reading at:  Government Contracts Navigator

With GSA’s schedule consolidation, what is changing and what is not

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This is the third in a series of posts regarding the General Services Administration’s (“GSA”) consolidation of its federal supply schedules into one schedule contract.  Our prior posts addressed GSA’s consolidation process in general and its use of Category Management in constructing the consolidated schedule.  Here, we answer common industry questions regarding what is and is not changing as a result of schedule consolidation.

Continue reading at:  Government Contracts Navigator

GSA’s big changes in 2020, Part 2

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This is the second in a series of blogs regarding the General Services Administration’s (“GSA”) Multiple Award Schedule consolidation.  Previously, we addressed GSA’s three phases of consolidation.  In this post, we focus on certain fundamental, structural changes to the consolidated schedule made during Phase I.

Category Management Comes to the GSA Federal Supply Schedule Program

Generally speaking, GSA’s restructuring can be labeled Category Management.  Over the last year, the GSA Category Management Leadership Council and the Office of Management and Budget developed a government-wide category structure to support category management implementation across the federal government.

Continue reading at:  Blank Rome’s Government Contracts Navigator

GSA’s big changes in 2020: federal supply schedules consolidation

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2020 may prove to be one of the most active years for federal contractors holding General Services Administration (“GSA”) Federal Supply Schedule (“FSS”) contracts and certain federal contractor registration requirements managed by GSA.  This post is the first of a series on GSA’s changes and addresses GSA’s most publicized action—the consolidation of its federal supply schedules into one schedule.

As promised, in October 2019, GSA released a solicitation that consolidated the solicitations for its 24 federal supply schedules into one solicitation to obtain an FSS contract.  GSA’s consolidation involves three Phases.

Phase I applies to companies that do not already hold an FSS contract.  Phase I was the release of the consolidated solicitation for use by companies seeking to obtain a new schedule contract.  On October 1, 2019, GSA released the consolidated solicitation.

Continue reading at:  Blank Rome

GSA hosting Federal Acquisition Service Training Conference in Atlanta, GA April 14-16, 2020

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The U.S. General Services Administration is hosting its FAST 2020 training conference in Atlanta, GA, from April 14-16, 2020.  We are thrilled that GSA selected Atlanta for this wonderful event.

According to GSA’s website, participating Industry Partners will:

  • Benefit from accessing the most comprehensive federally sponsored training event for contract management, procurement, and acquisition professionals in the nation.
  • Have the opportunity to directly engage with 3,000+ federal contracting professionals and senior policy and program leaders – under one roof, saving on travel and time away from the business.
  • Have hands on opportunity to master the latest government e-tools and processes, and learn from the experts.
  • Have the opportunity for face-to-face meetings with master contracting officers.
  • Have the opportunity to network with large and small business in like industries and develop teaming arrangements to win future business.
  • Be able to showcase company offerings, live, on the show floor and come away with increased market intelligence to advance the company’s competitive advantage.

Detailed information on the conference can be found here:  https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/customer-and-stakeholder-engagement/federal-acquisition-service-training-fast-conference

Date:  April 14-16, 2020

Location:  Atlanta Georgia World Congress Center, 285 Andrew Young International Blvd NW, Atlanta, GA 30313

Registration is required.  You can register here:  https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/customer-and-stakeholder-engagement/federal-acquisition-service-training-fast-conference

GSA takes next step towards consolidating multiple award schedules

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After receiving more than one thousand comments from industry and other stakeholders, on October 1, 2019, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued a solicitation for a single, consolidated Schedule as part of its project to combine its 24 existing Multiple Award Schedules (MAS), also referred to as Federal Supply Schedules (FSS), into one.  It is an important step towards the agency’s goal of simplifying and reducing duplication in its Schedules program, through which more than $30 billion is spent annually on commercial goods and services.  However, much work remains before such a goal can be realized.

This update provides an overview of GSA Schedules consolidation, the timeline for its implementation, and key areas that Schedule contractors should be prepared to track in the coming months.

Continue reading at:  Perkins Coie

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