Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

GSA wants streamlined forms for Schedule offers

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It is taking too long for the General Services Administration to process new offers from companies looking to get on a Multiple Award Schedules, according to officials, but a new policy seeks to streamline and standardize that work.

The MAS program will be releasing a draft of the new policy in “two-and-a-half to three months,” said Tiffany Hixson, GSA assistant commissioner for the Office of Professional Services and Human Capital Categories, during ACT-IAC’s Feb. 22 Federal Insights Exchange.

“Implementing offer streamlining is a really big deal for us,” Hixson said. “We were probably pushing a year in some instances in terms of getting offers processed. Granted, some of that was just related to the sheer volume of offers. … That said, there were some real challenges that we were having in terms of processing offers.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/02/gsa-wants-streamlined-offer-forms/146179/

GSA is expected to post its draft policy on this subject on the GSA Interact website.

GSA reopens Schedule 75, and introduces ‘enhanced’ office supplies SIN

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The General Services Administration (GSA) has reopened the new and improved Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) 75 to new offerors and also added what GSA is calling “a new enhanced” special item number (SIN).  The new SIN is known as Office Supplies Fourth Generation (OS4) for Office Products and Services to the Schedule.

“The new MAS 75 and enhanced SIN were designed to leverage the advantages of utilizing the increased competition from OS2 and ensuring the transparency set forth in OS3, to help GSA accomplish its goals and create value,” says GSA Administrator Emily Murphy. “Increased competition and transparency will help customers and GSA’s industry partners by improving task order-level competition for the federal acquisition community and removing barriers to entry to industry. Ultimately, this means better value and more favorable terms and conditions for customers and more opportunities for small businesses in the government marketplace.”

Run by GSA’s Northeast Caribbean Region, the new office supplies acquisition solution incorporates the Best-In-Class (BIC) features of the OS3 solutions to increase market share, reduce program redundancies, improve customer satisfaction, and increase federal acquisition opportunities for small businesses. Additionally, the combined legacy and enhanced SINs offer customers significant savings, while also meeting sustainable acquisition and socioeconomic goals.

The reopening of MAS 75 and establishment of the enhanced SIN OS4 will also help GSA meet GSA’s goals of refreshing and expanding a competitive pool of qualified vendors, improving customer value on MAS 75 by offering more favorable terms and conditions, savings, and increasing OCONUS (overseas) utilization.

For more information about the reopening of MAS 75 and the new enhanced SIN, visit www.gsa.gov/schedule75.

GSA seeks industry feedback on Civilian Contract Audit Services Ordering Guide

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The federal government’s Civilian Contract Audit Services Working Group, made up of representatives from more than 13 federal agencies and co-led by the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration, is seeking industry feedback on a Civilian Contract Audit Services Ordering Guide. The Ordering Guide is the result of a cross-agency collaboration to explore options to help agencies efficiently and effectively meet their contract audit requirements.

The Ordering Guide sets forth best practices for issuing task orders against the GSA Multiple Award Schedules for professional services to fill agencies’ contract audit requirements and  includes guidance on:

  • Contract direct costs,
  • Incurred Cost Proposal for Final Overhead and/or Billing Rates,
  • Accounting System Reviews,
  • Cost Accounting Standards,
  • Forward Pricing Rate Agreements,
  • Invoice/voucher review, and
  • Others, as necessary

The guide supports the Professional Services Category initiative identified as a critical component to meeting current and future contract audit requirements, and ultimately reducing the opportunity for contract duplication.

It is important to note that the DCAA heretofore has been, and in many cases continues to be, the primary source for the conduct of contract audits for cost reimbursable contracts. However, there are circumstances (i.e., work stoppages, capacity, cognizance, etc.) that may require agencies to procure these services from commercial sources. GSA’s Professional Services Schedule addresses that need.

The draft Ordering Guide is available on FedBizOpps (FBO) under Request for Information (RFI) number 1246131. Please provide comments as instructed on FBO.  Responses in Portable Document Format (PDF) compatible format are due no later than ​5:00 PM PST, October 27, 2017.  Responses must be submitted via e-mail to ccas@gsa.gov. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

The information provided will be utilized for preliminary planning purposes by the Government to facilitate the decision making process and will not be disclosed outside of the Government. All data received that is marked or designated as corporate or proprietary information will be fully protected from release outside the Government.

For more information contact: ccas@gsa.gov

GSA looks to help startups navigate big contracts

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The General Services Administration has posted a guide to help new technology startups navigate the agency’s sprawling multiple awards schedule contracts.

The Multiple Award Schedule Roadmap, said the GSA’s MAS Program Management Office, is part of the agency’s response to feedback from emerging, small and start-up businesses that getting onto MAS contracts such as IT Schedule 70 can be complicated and time-consuming.

The effort, according to a Sept. 21 blog post, was rolled out under the agency’s “Making It Easier” initiative.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2017/09/26/gsa-startup-guide-rockwell.aspx

GSA makes vendor participation in transactional data reporting pilot voluntary

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Last week, the US General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it will make participation in its Transactional Data Reporting pilot program (TDR Pilot) voluntary for all GSA contractors.

Previously, for Schedules and Special Item Numbers (SINs) included in the TDR Pilot, participation was voluntary for most existing contractors but mandatory for new offerors and those existing contractors approaching exercise of a five-year option period.

As discussed in the June 2016 LawFlash, as implemented, the TDR rule requires that government vendors electronically submit a monthly report containing line-item transactional data (e.g., part number, price paid) for direct sales to the government. GSA has previously opined that the TDR rule should significantly reduce burdens to contractors—in particular, by exempting participating contractors from the requirements of submitting Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) disclosures and complying with the tracking customer requirements of the Price Reductions Clause (PRC).

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=624718

GSA to make veteran-owned small businesses more accessible on supply schedules

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The General Services Administration (GSA) has partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to make it easier to for the agencies to find veteran-owned vendors on acquisition supply schedules.

The pair signed a memorandum of understanding July 10 to provide verified service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and veteran-owned small businesses listed in VA’s verified vendor database more clear designations on GSA’s VA Advantage list.

VA Advantage catalogs GSA-approved veteran contractors offering services on the agency’s supply schedules. The new MOU will provide VOSBs with a special icon to designate their verified status on VA Advantage.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/gsa-make-veteran-owned-small-businesses-accessible-supply-schedules/

GSA seeking ‘blockchain’ solutions

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Blockchain technology is coming to the federal government.

The General Services Administration is accepting quotes from IT and other tech companies regarding how blockchain and automated machine learning technologies could be used to improve the agency’s Multiple Award Schedules FASt Lane program.

The FASt Lane program is part of a broader GSA initiative that speeds up the time companies add products to the Schedule series, but GSA’s request for quotations suggests automated machine learning could reduce the amount of time humans spend reviewing documents and proposals.

Keep reading this article at: http://m.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2017/06/gsa-seeks-blockchain-solutions/138941

GSA may make industry participation in data reporting pilot optional

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The General Services Administration (GSA) is considering whether to remove a mandate requiring industry partners seeking or renewing a schedule to participate in its Transactional Data Reporting pilot.

Kevin Youel Page, deputy commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said Thursday voluntary participation in the 3-year pilot—which stemmed from a GSA-published rule last June—has been higher than expected, leaving officials to consider whether mandating participation was necessary.

Industry participants in the pilot provide sales information about their products and services to GSA. In turn, GSA relieves those participants of requirements many in industry dislike: the price reduction clause and commercial sales disclosures. GSA wants to use that data to improve the value agency customers get in purchasing billions of dollars worth of products and services sold through the Multiple Award Schedules.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/big-data/2017/04/gsa-may-make-industry-participation-data-reporting-pilot-optional/136796

GSA aims to refresh Schedules in April

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The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) is moving to launch a “refresh” of its Multiple Awards Schedule next month, applying recent rules changes to its largest buying program.

On a March 22 conference call, General Services Administration’s FAS officials said the refresh could roll out in the middle of April and would include:

  • Purchasing by Non-Federal Entities from Federal Supply Schedules
  • Small Business Subcontracting changes
  • Model Subcontracting Plan changes
  • Order level changes

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/fas-aims-to-refresh-multiple-award-schedules-in-april

GSA seeks input from Schedule-holders on contract modification process

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GSA logoThe U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is asking for feedback from GSA Schedule contractors on the contract modification process.

GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) will use the industry input it receives to improve the GSA Multiple Award Schedules’ (MAS) modification process.

GSA explained that its industry outreach is part of its recently-launched Making it Easier Initiative which includes “improving the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) modification process in order to make it easier for you, our MAS industry partners, to do business with the government.  We’ve heard your concerns, and want to make sure that your feedback on how to enhance the process is captured and taken into account.”

GSA Schedule contractors can provide comments by responding to the survey questionnaire at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1i0RX9FmMz56I1OY73k5VaxONDX7yiqQVHlVKlPV1kGw/viewform.

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