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5 pillars of GSA schedules modernization

The back-to-school season is upon the Nation’s Capital. As local students are wrapping-up their first week of classes today, it is time to start thinking about the end of summer and the end of the fiscal year.

The “experienced hands” at gearing-up for a new school know, and others likely will notice, this season unmistakably is one dominated by lists. Accordingly, as we prepare for the new fiscal year, The Coalition for Government Procurement is providing its, “5 pillars for schedule modernization,” to assist the General Services Administration and the Veterans Affairs Department in their efforts to modernize and enhance the schedules program.

Much like the Coalition has done in the past, each of these 5 pillars will be addressed in more depth through subsequent the Coalition’s “FAR & Beyond” blogs in the coming weeks.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/commentary/2018/09/5-pillars-of-gsa-schedules-modernization/

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IT modernization, procurement policy, and the GSA schedules: ‘To be or not to be’

On Aug. 30, the American Technology Council (ATC) issued for public comment its draft 36-point plan for federal IT modernization.  

The draft, “Report to the President on Federal IT Modernization,” sets forth a blueprint for IT modernization focusing on three broad implementation areas:

(1) Network modernization and consolidation;

(2) Shared services to enable future network architectures;

(3) Resourcing federal network IT modernization.

Layered cybersecurity capabilities, use of commercial cloud services, shared security services, and applications are among the key features to be addressed as part of the overall modernization strategy. Comments on the draft were due Sept. 20.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/commentary/2017/09/it-modernization-procurement-policy-and-the-gsa-schedules-to-be-or-not-to-be/

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GSA finalizes major update to acquisition policy

Nearly a decade after a panel of experts recommended major changes to the way the government buys services, the General Services Administration (GSA) is going through with two significant updates.

GSA logoGSA released the final data transaction reporting rule June 23 creating a requirement for government contractors to submit information about transactions through the schedule contracts and those governmentwide acquisition contracts run by the agency.

The agency says transactional data refers to the information generated when the government purchases goods or services from a vendor. It includes specific details such as descriptions, part numbers, quantities and prices paid for the items purchased.

In that final rule, which has been in the works for more than a year and has been drawn the ire of many vendors, GSA says “vendors will no longer be subject to the existing requirements for Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) disclosures and Price Reductions clause (PRC) basis of award monitoring, resulting in a substantial burden reduction.”

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition-policy/2016/06/gsa-finalizes-major-update-acquisition-policy/

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GAO: Agencies should be seeking deeper discounts on FSS contracts

Agencies aren’t consistently seeking discounts when procuring goods and services off the Federal Supply Schedules, says a Government Accountability Office report released Aug. 10.

GSA Schedule Contract logoThe Federal Supply Schedules, or FSS, program allows agencies to buy commercial products and services from a list of approved vendors at discounted prices.

According to the General Services Administration, agencies placed more than $33 billion worth of orders through the FSS program in fiscal year 2014. The FSS portion of total federal contract spending represents about 6 percent of contract spending governmentwide, the report says.

That said, agencies should be pushing for discounts even further than those provided by the base FSS prices, GAO says.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/gao-agencies-should-be-seeking-deeper-discounts-fss-contracts/2015-08-13

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How to unleash the full potential of GSA’s Federal Supply Schedules

President Barack Obama recently received a briefing from the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) on category management and the Common Acquisition Platform (CAP). The briefing is a very significant symbol of GSA’s important role in government management. It highlights GSA’s central role in providing procurement services and programs that support customer agency missions across the federal enterprise.

As a former GSA employee, it was great to see the White House focus on the important, unsung work GSA does day and day out on behalf of the American people.

Strategically, category management and the CAP have the potential to improve GSA’s delivery of best value commercial products, services and solutions to customer agencies. As you know, FAS has reorganized around market sectors or industry categories to better focus on market trends and customer requirements.

Category management has the potential to improve FAS’s management of its contracting programs through increased understanding of customer mission requirements and commercial market trends. The CAP has the potential to provide the federal enterprise with transparent, competitive information regarding already existing contracting programs, best procurement practices and market trends. The CAP can address contract duplication and provide federal market information that can further assist customer agencies in making sound, best value procurement decisions.

Keep reading this article at: 

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