GSA Schedules | The Contracting Education Academy

April 4, 2019 By cs

Management imperatives for schedules consolidation

In November, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it will be consolidating all its multiple award schedules (MAS) into a single schedule for best value commercial solutions.

As many of you know, the Coalition for Government Procurement has been a strong advocate for the single schedule concept, which will help to reduce costs for both government and industry stakeholders, as well as increase competition and customer access to best value solutions.

The single schedule concept is a game changer, providing GSA with a tremendous opportunity to inject much-needed consistency into the MAS program. Currently, the structure of the schedules program — which features 24 separate schedules and corresponding contract scopes — limits flexibility and hampers the ability of the program to deliver best value solutions consistent with the commercial market. Moreover, these separate contract scopes, which raise artificial barriers and stove-pipes, further promote what is perhaps the most enduring challenge associated with the MAS program: Inconsistent contract negotiation, award and management across GSA’s centers and contracting officers.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2019/03/management-imperatives-for-schedules-consolidation/

March 8, 2019 By cs

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/

February 21, 2019 By cs

Agencies may evaluate contractor responsibility under FSS orders

Contractor responsibility is to be considered before every federal contract award, but what about task orders issued under an Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract? Are contractors still subject to responsibility inquiries when competing for orders?

According to GAO, the answer is, “yes.”

Dehler Manufacturing Company, Inc., B-416819 et al. (Comp. Gen. Dec. 19, 2018), involved a procurement by the Army to provide furnishings for barracks at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. The Solicitation, which contemplated the award of a task order, required prospective contractors to hold FSS contacts that included furnishings. Award was to be made on a low-price technically-acceptable basis. Proposals were to be evaluated on a number of factors, including past performance.

Dehler timely submitted a response to the solicitation. During the Army’s evaluation of past performance, it obtained information from the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS). Of the five PPIRS reports the Army obtained for Dehler, four categorized Dehler’s performance as either “Marginal” or “Unsatisfactory.” Consequently, the Army concluded Dehler’s past performance was unacceptable and eliminated it from consideration.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/agencies-may-evaluate-contractor-responsibility-under-fss-orders-says-gao/

December 3, 2018 By cs

GSA will rollout schedules reform plan through fiscal 2020

The General Services Administration’s sweeping plan to consolidate 24 acquisition schedules into a single vehicle will play out over the next two years and will offer contractors a standard set of terms and conditions, officials said in a conference call last week.

GSA administrator Emily Murphy said the plan, which will condense the agency’s Multiple Award Schedules program into a single portal offering products and services contracts, represents a fortunate confluence of timing to potentially streamline the federal acquisition process.

“I’m excited we finally have the technology, timing and opportunity to enact meaningful reform,” she said.

GSA plans to roll out the reform plan in phases between now and fiscal 2020, starting with standing up a new schedule through which the agency plans to eventually on-board approximately 17,000 contracts.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/gsa-will-rollout-schedules-reform-plan-fiscal-2020/

November 5, 2018 By cs

FAS, IRS procure modern systems to streamline contracting processes

The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are looking into modernizing their technical assets to modify and streamline their contracting processes, Federal News Network reported last week.

General Services Administration The administrator of the General Services Administration Emily Murphy noted at the 2018 ImagineNation ELC conference that she aims for FAS to rethink procurement operations as it simplifies its schedules program.

She added that technologies such as robotics process automation, machine learning and business process re-engineering will help contracting officers focus on procuring systems according to specific data and business needs.

FAS Commissioner Alan Thomas also disclosed at the conference that the service will leverage GSA’s CIO Application Maintenance, Enhancements, and Operations recompete effort to modernize contracting systems.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.executivegov.com/2018/10/fas-irs-procure-modern-systems-to-streamline-contracting-processes/

In November, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced that it will be consolidating all its multiple award schedules (MAS) into a single schedule for best value commercial solutions.

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.

Contractor responsibility is to be considered before every federal contract award, but what about task orders issued under an Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contract? Are contractors still subject to responsibility inquiries when competing for orders?

The General Services Administration’s sweeping plan to consolidate 24 acquisition schedules into a single vehicle will play out over the next two years and will offer contractors a standard set of terms and conditions, officials said in a conference call last week.

The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are looking into modernizing their technical assets to modify and streamline their contracting processes, Federal News Network reported last week.

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