Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

The devil’s in the details as GSA seeks to consolidate the Multiple Award Schedules

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The General Services Administration (GSA) will use the coming year to determine what its recently announced consolidated schedule will look like, according to the official leading the effort.

GSA announced in November the consolidation of 24 multiple award schedules into a single contract vehicle that federal agencies can use to purchase a range of more than 10 million products and services. Each year, agencies purchase about $30 billion worth of products — ranging from office supplies to various IT services — through GSA’s 24 schedules.

“Over this year, we’ll start the consolidation of the MAS program,” said Stephanie Shutt, director of the MAS Program Management Office, speaking at a recent GSA industry day.

Shutt said an integrated project team consisting of MAS members and officials from various acquisition centers and portfolios is doing much of the early work. This team will help make crucial decisions that could shape the single schedule.

For example, Shutt said they are reviewing all existing terms and conditions and determining where overlap exists among special item numbers, which generally categorize the kinds of good and services available. One goal, she said, would be to get rid of redundant or duplicitous conditions.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/12/devils-details-gsa-seeks-consolidate-multiple-award-schedules/153638/

Industry applauds acquisition consolidation, warns of work to be done

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Members of the private sector and industry-representing groups applauded the General Services Administration’s decision to consolidate the 24 multiple award schedules into a single acquisition vehicle, but cautioned that the agency would have to do much more than just consolidation to affect real change.

“Assuming all else stays the same, combining all of the [special item numbers] under one umbrella doesn’t necessarily alleviate the burden to negotiations and buyers,” said Julia Conti, contracts director at CGI Federal, at a Dec. 12 GSA industry day. “Making it easier is not necessarily keeping it on autopilot.”

According to Conti and other members of a panel at the event, the GSA is going to have to rework contracting language, examine a broader array of contracting vehicles and make efforts to reach out to both agencies and the workforce for the MAS consolidation to be truly effective.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2018/12/12/industry-applauds-acquisition-consolidation-warns-of-work-to-be-done/

GSA to consolidate 24 multiple award schedules into one

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The General Services Administration will be simplifying its multiple award schedule offerings by taking the currently 24 schedules available for federal agencies to purchase products and services and consolidating them into one, the agency announced Nov. 27.

“Reforming our schedules will improve customer service, make it easier for small businesses to access the schedules program, reduce duplication for all our vendors, and allows GSA’s workforce to focus on delivering solutions,” said GSA Administrator Emily Murphy in a news release.

“This is an important step in addressing feedback we’ve received from our government and business partners.”

The transition into a consolidated schedule will take place over the course of two years and be comprised of two phases, according to GSA officials.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2018/11/27/gsa-to-consolidate-24-multiple-award-schedules-into-one/

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

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