Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

DATA Act: so far, so meh

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If laws produced virtue, we’d all have halos.  In reality laws sometimes produce next to nothing, at least initially.

Case in point: the 2014 Digital Accountability and Transparency Act. That well-intentioned piece of legislation was supposed to bring transparency by having agencies adopt uniform standards for tagging spending data. But as implemented, it’s not working out that way.

Those pesky Government Accountability Office auditors checked out the data posted at USAspending.gov. Under the law, GAO is supposed to check things periodically. When it comes to budget data, agencies get about a “C.” GAO is 95 percent confident that three-quarters of the website data matches agency records. But on contracts and grants spending, forget about it. GAO found that between 0 and 1 percent of posted data matches agency records.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/tom-temin-commentary/2017/11/data-act-so-far-so-meh/

       

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

Are contractors worrying too much over GSA’s data rule?

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Many government contractors are worried, fearful and in disbelief about the General Services Administration’s implementation of its Transactional Data Rule.

There are calls for delays in implementation and more training for contracting officers and contracting specialists. There are worries that contracting officers will continue to ask for the dreaded, outdated, lawsuit inducing data that the TDR is supposed to replace — commercial sales practices (CSPs) and the price reduction clause disclosures.

And maybe most of all, industry is concerned about the cost to collect and transmit the data back to GSA.

Despite all of these fears, we know very little about the impact, cost or problems with GSA collecting transactional data, which it says is information generated when the government purchases goods or services from a vendor. The rule requires vendors to report specific details such as descriptions, part numbers, quantities and prices paid for the items purchased.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2017/02/contractors-worrying-much-gsas-data-rule/

3 takeaways from an anxious GSA roundtable with industry

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The General Services Administration’s courtship of the private sector appears to remain very much in the anxiety stage, at least when it comes to its Transactional Data Reporting rule.

The agency sought to calm those apprehensions with a Feb. 7 roundtable outlining the benefits of the acquisition rule — which ditches the requirement that contractors disclose their commercial sales practices in favor of detailed monthly reports outlining all sales made under certain GSA contract vehicles.

The agency rolled out a pilot program to test the rule in August 2016, but despite GSA’s efforts to communicate TDR’s benefits for streamlining acquisition, industry stakeholders attending the roundtable signaled that they were just not that into the measure, yet.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/3-takeaways-from-an-anxious-gsa-roundtable-with-industry

GSA wants transaction-level purchasing data from contractors

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The General Services Administration (GSA) is changing the reporting requirements for federal contractors.

GSA Schedule ContractThe agency has formalized a new rule that requires vendors to report transaction-level data from orders on Federal Supply Schedule and governmentwide acquisition contracts, as well as indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity agreements.

Information gathered under the Transactional Data Reporting rule might include detailed descriptions, quantities and prices for items bought, according to a Federal Register notice.

The rule, which began with a pilot for FSS contracts over the summer, aims to help GSA analyze government spending patterns more broadly, according to the agency.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2016/11/gsa-wants-transaction-level-purchasing-data/133235

Oracle to leave GSA schedule: A signal of broader change?

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GSA logoOracle is leaving the General Services Administration’s schedules program. It’s not going to just stop selling directly through the IT schedule, but the software giant will no longer use third-party resellers either, according to multiple sources.

Let that sink in for a second. One of the largest software vendors in the world is telling GSA, thanks, but we can live without you.

Sources said Oracle decided the GSA schedules just weren’t worth the hassle any longer — the compliance requirements, the potential and real threats of False Claims Act lawsuits and the new Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) rule, all played into this decision.

“The federal market is a very small chunk of their business and while it seems big for us, when you look at someone like Oracle’s overall business, they have to expend an exorbitant amount of resources for little payoff,” said Jennifer Aubel, a principal with Aronson Consulting, who said she wasn’t familiar with Oracle’s decision. “With the TDR and even with not having to do price reduction clause reporting, a company like Oracle would still have to do monthly reporting and there is a lot of concerns, including how GSA will keep the data secure.”

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2016/09/oracle-leave-gsa-schedule-signal-broader-change/

GSA answers vendors concerns about transactional data rule

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GSA Schedule ContractThe General Services Administration (GSA) is trying to bring some light to a new acquisition requirement that has industry on edge.

Under the transactional data reporting rule, GSA is accepting volunteers from the contracting community to take part in a one-to-two year pilot to submit sales information back to the agency in exchange for relief of the price reduction clause and the commercial sales disclosures — two requirements vendors have long haexted.

Kevin Youel Page, the deputy commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA, said the agency is trying to be more transparent about the Transactional Data Reporting initiative and respond to industry concerns, including more than 60 questions from the Coalition for Government Procurement.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition-policy/2016/09/gsa-answers-vendors-concerns-transactional-data-rule/

Contractor group asks GSA to hold off on data pilot

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CGPThe Coalition for Government Procurement (CGP) is asking the General Services Administration (GSA) to answer dozens of questions from its members before going forward with a transactional data reporting pilot project.

“Based on the significant impact that this change will have on their commercial business operations, they have more than sixty questions that we request GSA address before the transactional data pilot is launched,” wrote CGP President Roger Waldron to GSA Senior Procurement Executive Jeff Koses, in a letter dated August 10.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/contractor-group-asks-gsa-to-hold-off-on-data-pilot

Top takeaways concerning GSA’s final rule on transactional data reporting

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GSA logoBy now the entire government contracting community is well aware that one of the most significant changes in Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracting in years occurred just a few weeks ago, as the General Services Administration (GSA) issued its Final Rule on transactional data reporting.

The Final Rule amends the GSA Federal Acquisition Regulation supplement (GSAR) to require FSS contractors and others with certain GSA Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), and Government-wide Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contracts to report transactional data related to orders placed under those contracts.

As indicated over a year ago in a prior client alert, both the contracting community and the GSA Office of Inspector General had concerns with the draft transactional data reporting rule.  GSA has addressed some, but not all, of these concerns.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=507342

Vendors could save millions with new GSA reporting requirement

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GSA logoThe General Services Administration (GSA) published a final rule on June 23, 2016 for what it’s calling the “most transformational changes to GSA’s Federal Supply Schedules Program in more than two decades.”

The Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) rule requires federal contractors to report data on individual task orders and purchases made on GSA schedules, including part numbers, quantities and prices paid. While this seems like an additional requirement for vendors, the new process will eliminate some older reporting requirements and is intended to streamline the process.

GSA procurement officials expect the new process will save millions a year in processing overhead, namely by eliminating commercial sales practices disclosures and the Price Reductions Clause.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/acquisition/gsa-gwac/2016/06/22/transactional-data-rule/86247440/

See the new rule published in the Federal Register at: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/06/23/2016-14728/general-services-administration-acquisition-regulation-gsar-transactional-data-reporting

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