Order Level Materials | The Contracting Education Academy

July 11, 2018 By cs

GSA looks to streamline acquisition for federal buyers

In a step it hopes will help ease agency acquisition of everything from IT systems to pencils, the General Services Administration (GSA) is adding a feature to its schedule programs called Order Level Materials, which was the subject of a recent rulemaking process.

The move will let agencies get products and services along with the associated items they need to make use of them at the order level, Mark Lee, assistant commissioner in the agency’s Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of Policy and Compliance, wrote a July 3 blog post.

Before the new rule, GSA said, agencies might have had to go through several contracting actions to get secondary services a total system solution or product might need before it could actually be implemented or put into use.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2018/07/05/gsa-olm-rule-acquisition.aspx

March 7, 2018 By cs

GSA says rule change will simplify Schedule buys, reduce proliferation of multiple-award contracts

The General Services Administration believes it’s fixed at least one of the reasons behind a proliferation of overlapping indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) multiple award contracts across the government.

Until now, there was no way for agencies to buy products and services from GSA’s Schedules program while simultaneously getting the ancillary services and goods they might need to actually make use of them.

A change to the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR), published last month, lets agencies buy what are known as “order level materials” (OLMs) via the schedules themselves. Previously, officials said, acquisition often had to undertake two contracting actions if they wanted to buy ancillary services from the schedules.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition-policy/2018/02/gsa-says-rule-change-will-simplify-schedule-buys-reduce-proliferation-of-multiple-award-contracts/

February 13, 2018 By cs

New rule allows other direct costs and order level materials on GSA Schedule task orders

The General Services Administration (GSA) has finalized a major change to its Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program, allowing the purchase of incidental materials.

On FSS contracts, the new rule allows vendors to include other direct costs (ODCs) or order level materials (OLMs) on individual task orders. ODCs or OLMs are costs that aren’t specifically identified in the contract, such as a specialized tool or test equipment. GSA says the change will help create parity with commercial sector best practices.

The new rule was originally proposed in the Federal Register at 81 FR 62445 on September 9, 2016, but only recently finalized. It addresses the importance of providing the same flexibility for the FSS program that is currently authorized for other indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) vehicles, which will help reduce contract duplication and the associated administrative costs and inefficiencies.

Details at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/01/24/2018-01232/general-services-administration-acquisition-regulation-gsar-federal-supply-schedule-order-level

In a step it hopes will help ease agency acquisition of everything from IT systems to pencils, the General Services Administration (GSA) is adding a feature to its schedule programs called Order Level Materials, which was the subject of a recent rulemaking process.

The General Services Administration believes it’s fixed at least one of the reasons behind a proliferation of overlapping indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) multiple award contracts across the government.

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