class deviation | The Contracting Education Academy

July 27, 2017 By AMK

DoD raises micro-purchase threshold to $5,000

The Department of Defense (DoD) has issued a class deviation that raises the micro-purchase threshold from $3,500 to $5,000.

Class Deviation 2017-O0006, issued July 13, 2017 and effective immediately, allows authorized DoD buyers to make purchases of supplies and services up to $5,000 using streamlined procedures. Micro-purchases are primarily made through the use of Governmentwide purchase cards (GPC).

According to FAR 13,203, micro-purchases may be awarded without soliciting competitive quotations if the contracting officer or other authorized official considers the price to be reasonable.

The class deviation also raised the micro-purchase threshold to $10,000 for DoD’s basic research programs and for activities of DoD’s science and technology reinvention laboratories.

It is expected that these new purchasing thresholds will be incorporated into the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (DFARS) in the near future.

June 28, 2017 By AMK

Removal of fair pay and safe workplaces rule imminent: GSA issues interim memorandum

Rulemaking is underway to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to remove the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Final Rule, the General Services Administration (GSA) has said in guidance to federal agencies instructing them not to wait for the formal rescission to ensure certain contract clauses are not in new or existing government contracts and solicitations.

The GSA’s “Class Deviation from the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to remove the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces final rule (FAR Case 2014-025)” implements and provides guidance to federal agencies and contracting officers regarding Executive Order 13782, “Removal of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Final Rule,” signed by President Donald Trump on March, 27, 2017.

The GSA memorandum notes the rule is null and void as a result of both legislative and Executive Order actions.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.natlawreview.com/article/removal-fair-pay-and-safe-workplaces-rule-imminent-gsa-issues-interim-memorandum

June 24, 2016 By AMK

GSA doubles-down on commercial supplier and end-user license agreements

Recently, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) issued a proposed rule to codify a class deviation regarding GSA’s approach to common Commercial Supplier Agreement (“CSA”) and End User License Agreement (“EULA”) terms.

The class deviation has been previously addressed here and in an article for the Coalition for Government Procurement available here. While the Proposed Rule apparently is intended to assuage contractor concerns about the class deviation, it falls short of this goal, so contractors must remain vigilant if and when the Proposed Rule is finalized and GSA begins to attempt to implement it through contract modifications. Comments on the Proposed Rule are due by August 1, 2016.

Like the class deviation, the Proposed Rule would declare “unenforceable” 15 typical CSA/EULA terms and conditions that GSA believes are inconsistent with federal law. This change would thus allow GSA to ignore these clauses during negotiations, with the stated goal of reducing time and expense in negotiating CSAs/EULAs.

But the Proposed Rule does not stop there.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/06/gsa-proposed-rule-doubles-down-on-csaeula-deviation

April 12, 2016 By AMK

Establishing GSA order pricing may become more complicated

As commercial item contracts, GSA Schedules are subject to streamlined acquisition procedures intended to make the procurement process more efficient. One of the biggest advantages the Schedules offer ordering agencies is pre-negotiated pricing that has already been determined to be fair and reasonable.

Over the past several years, concern about pricing variability among the same or similar items on different schedule contracts led some agencies to publicly question whether they could rely on rates negotiated by the General Services Administration (GSA).

In March of 2014, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a class deviation to FAR 8.404(d) requiring its contracting officers to make their own determination that GSA order prices were fair and reasonable using the proposal analysis techniques under FAR 15.404-1. NASA quickly did the same.

With federal procurement policy, where DoD goes, other agencies frequently follow. It isn’t surprising then that a new FAR case (2015-021) came out a year later proposing to overwrite 8.404(d) to match the language in the class deviations. If this FAR case makes it through the rulemaking process, it means that ordering agencies will have to complete a fair and reasonable price evaluation for all GSA schedule orders.

At the very least, agency contracting officers will be required to “obtain appropriate data, without certification, on the prices at which the same or similar items have previously been sold and determine if the data is adequate for evaluating the reasonableness of the price.” GSA’s contracting officers already do this when negotiating schedule pricing.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/establishing-gsa-order-pricing-may-become-complicated/

April 3, 2015 By AMK

Another proposal from GSA is class deviation for commercial agreements

March has been a busy month for the General Services Administration (GSA) in its efforts to implement what it has touted as a “new vision for Federal purchasing.”

On March 5, 2014, GSA announced a proposed rule to reform pricing practices and contractor reporting requirements under multiple award schedule contracts.

In its latest move, on March 20, 2015, the GSA issued a proposal to streamline the negotiation of Commercial Supplier Agreements, which are commonly used in acquisitions of software and other information technology. Such agreements typically contain standard contract terms that GSA regards as inappropriate in the context of a sale to the government. As a result, protracted negotiations with GSA are often necessary to reach agreement on acceptable terms before software and other items can be offered for sale on the Federal Supply Schedule.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.natlawreview.com/article/another-proposal-gsa-class-deviation-commercial-agreements

The Department of Defense (DoD) has issued a class deviation that raises the micro-purchase threshold from $3,500 to $5,000.

Recently, the General Services Administration (“GSA”) issued a proposed rule to codify a class deviation regarding GSA’s approach to common Commercial Supplier Agreement (“CSA”) and End User License Agreement (“EULA”) terms.

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