GSA | The Contracting Education Academy

November 12, 2019 By cs

FBO no mo’

Today, beta.SAM.gov became the official source for federal business opportunities, replacing FBO.gov.

**This is the message visitors now see at FBO.gov.**

FBO, which stood for Federal Business Opportunities (or the shortened term FedBizOpps), contained a list of virtually every federal contract valued at more than $25,000. These contracts can now be found in the “Contract Opportunities” section of beta.SAM.gov.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is in charge of beta.SAM.gov. GSA’s vision for the merged databases is “a ‘family tree’ that organizes federal government users and establishes relationships between each department/independent agency’s sub-tiers and its offices.”

Visitors who attempt to go to FBO.gov are automatically rerouted to fbohome.sam.gov which provides notice that FBO has moved.

In visiting the new site today, we encountered long delays in connecting to beta.SAM.gov as well as to its Contract Opportunities page at beta.sam.gov/help/contract-opportunities. Users encountered similar delays when GSA last month moved the FARSite operated since 1996 by Hill Air Force Base to GSA-managed Acquisition.gov. Because of high traffic, GSA had to delay the transition from Oct. 1 to Oct. 21.

Links on beta.SAM.gov appear to be working, but users will experience delays in moving from one page to another and in downloading documents. Notably, we had to make multiple attempts to open the “FBO Transition Guide for Federal Administrators.” The Guide provides instructions to federal officials on how to post contract opportunities and related information to beta.SAM.gov. We encountered similar delays when trying to open various “Quick Start” guides.

The shift of FBO.gov to beta.SAM.gov is part of a larger merger of many legacy systems into one database. Previously, “Wage Determinations Online” and the “Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance” were shifted into beta.SAM.gov.

November 11, 2019 By cs

DOJ announces ‘strike force’ to combat procurement crimes

The Justice Department announced last week the creation of a new interagency partnership to combat antitrust and procurement crimes.

The Procurement Collusion Strike Force will “deter, detect, investigate, and prosecute antitrust crimes and related criminal schemes,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim at a press conference. The strike force will use a “district-based task force organization model” to facilitate cooperation between the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, 13 Attorneys’ Offices, FBI and inspector general offices for Defense and Justice Departments, General Services Administration and U.S. Postal Service.

“When government contractors collude with each other to rig bids for government contracts at the federal, state, or local level, it leads to artificially higher prices for those goods or services. When the government has to pay those artificially higher prices, all American taxpayers are paying for it,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen at the press conference. “Strike Force will better inform federal, state, and local government procurement communities about these criminal activities and how to detect and report them.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/11/justice-department-announces-strike-force-combat-procurement-crimes/161103/

October 23, 2019 By cs

How GSA plans to capture $6 billion in under-the-radar spending

The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to see if micro-purchasing innovation makes a big difference in agency acquisition.

Each year, federal agencies spend billions of dollars collectively making purchases using their federal government purchase cards or other micro-purchase methods, which receive little notice on a governmentwide scale when compared with higher-value contracts.

GSA is currently looking for a way to change that, by offering an e-marketplace platform that not only allows agencies to more easily search for and make those smaller-cost purchases, but also gives GSA and user agencies better data about how their spending stacks up.

At the beginning of October, GSA released its request for proposals for a proof-of-concept of the program, which will kick off a three-year maximum test to see whether a government-organized e-marketplace is more valuable than agencies simply making these purchases on their own, as they do now.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2019/10/18/how-gsa-plans-to-capture-6b-in-under-the-radar-spending/

October 17, 2019 By cs

GSA takes first major step in schedules consolidation journey

The General Services Administration has taken the first major step in consolidating its 24 different schedules into one consolidated offering, checking off phase one of its overhaul of the Multiple Award Schedules program, and outlining deliverables for the second and final stages next year.

In phase one of the consolidation, GSA completed a review of the schedule contracts and reduced about two-thirds of the number of Special Item Numbers (SINs) as part of a move to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Phase one of the consolidation will only impact vendors who are applying for a schedule for the first time. But for phases two and three, which will take place next year, GSA is working with industry partners to ease the transition for current schedule holders.

Stephanie Shutt, director of GSA’s Multiple Awards Schedules (MAS) Program Office, said the rise of duplicative schedules led to industry partners getting onto multiple contracts in the same program and offering the same products in multiple places.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/acquisition/2019/10/gsa-takes-first-major-step-in-schedules-consolidation-journey/

October 11, 2019 By cs

GSA’s Thomas to leave as head of acquisition service

Alan Thomas, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration, has resigned.

Multiple sources confirmed Thomas announced his decision Oct. 2nd.

“After more than two years of dedicated service leading the Federal Acquisition Service, Commissioner Alan Thomas is departing GSA to pursue a new opportunity in the private sector,” wrote GSA Administration Emily Murphy in an email to staff, which Federal News Network obtained. “I am very grateful to Alan for his commitment to our mission and the accomplishments achieved by the FAS team during his time here. “

Murphy said in her note that GSA senior advisor Julie Dunne has agreed to serve as acting FAS commissioner, beginning Oct. 15.

Thomas became FAS commissioner in June 2017 and immediately went to work on improving FAS around people, processes and technology.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2019/10/gsas-thomas-to-leave-as-head-of-acquisition-service/

Today, beta.SAM.gov became the official source for federal business opportunities, replacing FBO.gov.

The Justice Department announced last week the creation of a new interagency partnership to combat antitrust and procurement crimes.

The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to see if micro-purchasing innovation makes a big difference in agency acquisition.

The General Services Administration has taken the first major step in consolidating its 24 different schedules into one consolidated offering, checking off phase one of its overhaul of the Multiple Award Schedules program, and outlining deliverables for the second and final stages next year.

Alan Thomas, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration, has resigned.

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