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January 22, 2021 By cs

GSA to remove almost all drones from contract offerings over China concerns

By Feb. 1, all but five unmanned aerial vehicles will be removed from the General Services Administration’s offerings.

The General Services Administration — the federal government’s central buyer — will no longer include drones in its suite of offerings, except those previously approved by a small innovation unit inside the Defense Department.

Citing the threat of Chinese manufacturers, GSA officials announced Tuesday the agency will be canceling contracts offering drones from all but five suppliers on the Multiple Award Schedules, the set of pre-vetted contracts that offer everything from paper clips to helicopters to data centers.

“GSA is removing all identified drones that are not approved through the [Defense Innovation Unit’s] Blue sUAS program from MAS contracts,” a GSA spokesperson told Nextgov. “Affected vendors will be notified by their contracting officer and only the identified drones will be removed from their MAS contract.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2021/01/gsa-remove-almost-all-drones-contract-offerings-over-china-concerns/171352/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: China, cybersecurity, cyberthreat, DIU, drones, GSA, MAS, security threat

December 28, 2020 By cs

Vendors, consultants describe an increase in ‘bullying’ tactics by GSA to get lower schedule prices

The General Services Administration’s schedules program brings in more than $38 billion in revenue each year.

It’s one of the most well-known acquisition programs in the country with a reach across more than 100 agencies, state and local governments and the private sector companies. If a company wants to play in the federal market, usually their first step is to get on the schedule.

This is why recent actions by some GSA contracting officers trying to drive down prices, particularly for services, that some say to an unreasonable level is causing so much concern and eliciting words like “bullying” and “holding hostage” from those vendors facing this pressure that has re-emerged over the last four to six months.

Multiple vendors as well as consultants, lawyers and a major GSA-focused trade association representing hundreds of schedule holders say the pendulum has swung too far in how the Federal Acquisition Service is requiring vendors to renegotiate prices, with some being reduced by as much as 40%.

“We are getting our next five years on the schedule and [were] just finishing our 10 year[s] in total. In our entire time on the schedule, we’ve never gotten an economic price adjustment so we have not increased our rates since 2009 or 2010. GSA deemed our rates fair and reasonable at the time,” said one vendor executive, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “When we recently went to modify our schedule contract, the GSA contracting officer said our prices were no longer fair and reasonable and asked us to reduce five of our rates. That just shocked us. We have multiple blanket purchase agreements and other contracts against these rates so for us to back track was unthinkable.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/12/vendors-consultants-describe-an-increase-in-bullying-tactics-by-gsa-to-get-lower-schedule-prices/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: e-signature, eMod, eOffer, Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Schedule, MAS, modification, multiple award contract, offer, Schedules

December 3, 2020 By cs

Contractor agrees to pay $18.98 million for alleged overcharges and use of unqualified labor

Cognosante LLC has agreed to pay the United States $18,987,789 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by using unqualified labor and overcharging the United States for services provided to government agencies under two General Services Administration (GSA) contracts, the Justice Department. 

Cognosante, which is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, provides health care and IT services and solutions to federal agencies.

GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts allow the federal government to leverage its buying power to achieve favorable pricing.  Under MAS contracts, contractors negotiate with GSA to set maximum prices for goods and services subsequently ordered by agencies across the federal government.  These contracts provide streamlined access to the federal marketplace.

The settlement resolves allegations that Cognosante overcharged the United States for services performed under two GSA MAS contracts, including by providing false information concerning Cognosante’s commercial discounting practices during contract negotiations.  It also resolves allegations that Cognosante charged the United States for labor that failed to meet the qualifications in one of the contracts.

Cognosante investigated and disclosed to the United States the contractual violations resolved in the settlement.  It received credit for its disclosure and cooperation.

The settlement was the result of a joint investigation by the GSA OIG, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch.  The claims resolved by the settlement agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.    

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-contractor-agrees-pay-1898-million-alleged-false-claims-act-caused-overcharges-and

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: abuse, DOJ, false claims, False Claims Act, false information, fraud, GSA, IG, Justice Dept., MAS, multiple award, multiple award contract, OIG, overcharge, settlement, unqualified labor

November 10, 2020 By cs

GSA preparing switch to e-signature for Multiple Award Schedule offers and mods

Contract holders will also see new security measures being implemented in the near future for eOffer and eMod.

In less than one month, contract holders on the General Services Administration’s Multiple Award Schedule will be able to sign offers and contract modifications digitally using DocuSign. The move will come ahead of more changes that will bring additional security to two contract management portals.

On November 30, GSA will be turning on the ability to electronically sign documents in eOffer and eMod, which will become the standard method going forward. But the transition means contract holders need to prepare.

“This change to DocuSign aligns with GSA’s overall IT modernization efforts to support security and provide a solution that is legally recognized internationally,” GSA officials wrote in a post on Interact.

The post notes there will be some downtime during the transition, meaning vendors will “not be able to submit new offers and requests for modifications in eOffer and eMod” from November 25 through 29. That said, vendors will still be able to start the process for new offers and modifications—just not submit them—and will be able to work on tasks already in process.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/10/gsa-preparing-switch-esignature-multiple-award-schedule-offers-and-modifications/169653/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: e-signature, eOffer, Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Schedule, MAS, modification, multiple award contract, offer, Schedules

February 12, 2020 By cs

GSA moves into phase two of its massive contract merger

The General Services administration has begun the process of altering current contracts under its Multiple Award Schedule program, as part of its ongoing initiative to take the 24 different schedules currently existing under the program and merge them into one, unified schedule.

The agency announced Jan. 31 that current schedule holders will receive notice of a “mass mod” to their contracts in the coming months, which will align their terms and conditions with the new, consolidated Multiple Award Schedule.

“We are planning for a smooth transition and federal agencies should experience no disruption to their purchasing practices during the mass mod,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Julie Dunne in a news release.

“There will be no change to contract numbers, which makes the transition less burdensome overall. And, we’ve been steadily training our contracting workforce to ensure a seamless transition. Soon, we’ll have just one Schedule, with a single set of terms and conditions, making it much easier to buy and offer complete solutions.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2020/01/31/gsa-moves-into-phase-two-of-its-massive-contract-merger/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: FAS, Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Schedule, GSA Schedules, MAS, multiple award, multiple award contract

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