E-commerce | The Contracting Education Academy

June 13, 2019 By AMK

Federal online shopping platform coming soon – GSA to issue prototype RFP within the year

In the latest step towards delivering on the long-promised “Procurement Through Commercial e-Commerce Portals” program, the General Services Administration has announced plans to build a proof-of-concept for federal online shopping, aiming to issue an RFP by the end of the year for web-based acquisition platforms.

According to GSA’s notice, the platforms will be based on an “e-marketplace” model — one that connects federal customers to a range of competing vendors, similar to online shopping websites in the private sector. These “e-commerce portals” will carry “routine commercial items found on today’s commercial e-commerce platforms (with office supplies and industrial products being amongst the most common)[.]” Purchases will be limited to the micro-purchase level, which is currently set at $10,000.

The agency expects to award multiple prototype contracts, and it indicated that further proof-of-concept contracts may be needed to test other online purchasing models. These other purchasing models include an “e-commerce model,” under which each portal provider would serve as the seller of goods, and an “e-procurement model,” under which the acquiring agency would manage the platform using software supplied by a contractor to facilitate sales through multiple vendors. On this point, GSA explained that “the one model that best fits GSA’s priorities for an initial proof of concept is the e-marketplace model.”

Keep reading article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2019/05/federal-online-shopping-platform-coming-soon-gsa-to-issue-prototype-rfp-within-the-year/

March 8, 2019 By AMK

GSA details ‘rapid changes’ underway for acquisition

Officials from the General Services Administration’s procurement arm recently outlined plans to streamline the agency’s internal operations, including better use of data, boosting systems efficiencies and process reforms.

Crystal Philcox, assistant commissioner of enterprise strategy management for the Federal Acquisition Service, said at an ACT-IAC session that GSA continues to implement its “Federal Marketplace” strategy, a broad agency-wide plan to make acquisition more efficient and user-friendly for stakeholders.

“This strategy is really focused on experience,” she said. “I am pulling in as many things as I can find at GSA that have to do with improving the experience of interacting with the agency, for both buyers and suppliers.”

The strategy includes ongoing projects like GSA’s schedules consolidation and its e-commerce portals, but will also delve into other arenas like overhauling its contract-writing systems and crafting product offerings catalogs for customers.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/fas-officials-detail-rapid-changes-underway-service/

April 5, 2018 By AMK

3 ways Emily Murphy’s GSA is looking to innovate acquisition

In the ongoing movement to transform the government’s digital infrastructure, the General Services Administration is effectively the keystone — and that has presented the agency’s leader Emily Murphy with plenty of opportunities to improve how federal agencies buy technology.

Speaking at the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s Acquisition Excellence conference Tuesday, the GSA administrator outlined several paths she’d like her agency to take to innovate acquisition.

“Acquisition innovation and technological innovation go hand in hand,” said Murphy, a 2018 FedScoop Top Women in Technology winner. “The priorities that I have outlined — reducing duplication, increasing competition and improving transparency — can be accomplished through several key programs and initiatives that GSA is currently working on. These efforts also directly affect and involve the federal acquisition community.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/3-ways-emily-murphys-gsa-looking-innovate-acquisition/

March 20, 2018 By AMK

GSA wants e-commerce portal up and running by 2020

The General Services Administration on Friday released the final plans for building a governmentwide e-commerce portal that would make buying commercial products easier and faster for federal agencies.

In the proposal, GSA and the Office of Management and Budget detailed the timeline for rolling out the platform. The agencies also called on Congress to make a handful of legislative changes to open the door for online federal purchasing. Agencies would ultimately use the portals to buy products from pens and pencils to potentially more complex items, like mobile devices or other technologies.

“This opportunity to increase competition and improve transparency in the acquisition process can greatly reduce the burden the current processes place on both our acquisition workforce and industry partners,” GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said in a statement.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/03/gsa-wants-get-e-commerce-portal-and-running-2020/146742/

June 1, 2017 By AMK

Thornberry takes aim at commercial items, contract audits and services contracts

The Defense Department could be the next big player in commercial, online marketplace commerce if the new acquisition reforms proposed by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) make it into law.

Thornberry released his third annual acquisition reform bill to the public today. This year he takes aim at DoD’s ability to buy commercial products, contract audits and services acquisition with an 80-page bill that will eventually be folded into the 2018 defense authorization bill.

The bill tries to encourage DoD to buy commercial off the shelf products through e-commerce marketplaces. Think something like Amazon, where the marketplace aggregates products from multiple vendors.

DoD already uses a system like that called DoD EMALL, but that is an area where vendors only sell to the government.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/defense-news/2017/05/thornberry-takes-aim-at-commercial-items-contract-audits-and-services-contracts/

Officials from the General Services Administration’s procurement arm recently outlined plans to streamline the agency’s internal operations, including better use of data, boosting systems efficiencies and process reforms.

In the ongoing movement to transform the government’s digital infrastructure, the General Services Administration is effectively the keystone — and that has presented the agency’s leader Emily Murphy with plenty of opportunities to improve how federal agencies buy technology.

The General Services Administration on Friday released the final plans for building a governmentwide e-commerce portal that would make buying commercial products easier and faster for federal agencies.

The Defense Department could be the next big player in commercial, online marketplace commerce if the new acquisition reforms proposed by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) make it into law.

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