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December 21, 2020 By cs

GSA proposes to standardize policies on reverse auctions

The General Services Administration (GSA) has proposed revisions to the Federal Acquisition Regulation on use of reverse auctions by federal agencies, saying that while they have been in common practice for more than 20 years, their use has been inconsistent.

In reverse auctions, multiple vendors compete with one another to win a contract by lowering the offered price.

They generally are used for acquiring commercial products and most often result in the award of a fixed price contract valued less than $150,000 to a small business, a Federal Register notice says.

The notice says GAO reports in 2013 and 2018 found that:

“Confusion exists concerning a lack of documentation about reverse auction service provider fees and their application to federal contracts;

“There is a lack of sufficient data available for agencies to verify actual cost savings resulting from a reverse auction; and

“The potential benefits of reverse auctions are not being maximized, as many reverse auctions are resulting in the receipt of only one offer or a lack of interactive competition amongst offerors.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedweek.com/federal-managers-daily-report/gsa-proposes-to-standardize-policies-on-reverse-auctions/

 

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: FAR, Federal Register, federal regulations, fixed price, GSA, inconsistency, reverse auction, reverse auctions, small business

September 5, 2018 By AMK

GSA to close down reverse auction platform after 5 years

Look back over the last say 25 years and see if you can remember the last time an agency publicly admitted defeat with a program or project and decided to move on.

Don’t think about a contract that failed or even an act of Congress ending a specific program, but focus on a service offering that just couldn’t make it.

It’s hard to find one. Right?

This is why the General Services Administration’s decision to shut down its reverse auction tool on Dec. 31 is significant.

GSA is pulling the plug after just over five years.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2018/08/gsa-to-close-down-reverse-auction-platform-after-5-years/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: commercial item, GSA, reverse auction, reverse auctions, simplified acquisition

March 9, 2017 By AMK

Navy officially adopts GSA reverse auctions acquisition platform

The Department of the Navy, looking for more efficiency in its acquisition process, has adopted the General Service Administration’s Reverse Auctions eTool to increase savings on commonly purchased office products, equipment and services.

Signing a memorandum of understanding on Jan. 18, 2017, the two parties have extended a longstanding partnership for reverse auction procurements, where sellers compete to win business from agencies with prices decreasing as the competitive auction progresses.

The eTool can be used to facilitate the request for and submission of quotes, offers or proposals for products, services and solutions through GSA Multiple Award Schedules and Blanket Purchase Agreements and Open Market (non-schedule) acquisitions.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/navy-officially-adopts-gsa-reverse-auctions-acquisition-platform

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: BPA, GSA, MAS, Navy, reverse auctions

January 7, 2016 By AMK

Viewpoint: Reverse auctions don’t help agencies or taxpayers

Dozens of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of America’s small construction firms— whether minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, HUBZone or just plain old small business—agree: using reverse auctions to procure construction services for the federal government does not save money, does not encourage quality and does not help small businesses. 

Reverse Auction article 12.30.2015Reverse auctions do not guarantee the lowest price for a contract. Rather, like in “The Price is Right” game show, they guarantee that one business will underbid others by just one dollar. A bidder has no incentive to offer its best price and may never have to offer its lowest price. Nevertheless, business do offer their best price for low price technically acceptable procurements and other contracting approaches conducted through sealed bids, where competitors do not know their competitor’s price. Data reporting any bid savings is, therefore, highly questionable.

Reverse auctions do not make sense for the procurement of many contracts, particularly those for professional services and especially construction services.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/12/viewpoint-reverse-auctions-dont-help-agencies-or-taxpayers/124791/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: best value, competition, competitive bid, cost savings, low bid, LPTA, reverse auctions

June 30, 2015 By AMK

Long-time in coming, OFPP reverse auction memo rings hollow

Anne Rung, OFPP administrator, has released a six-page policy memo basically reminding agencies of best practices to keep in mind when using this tool.

But the only real instruction to agencies is for them to send her office a point of contact by July 10.

“OFPP seeks to work with agencies to identify the essential management data points (e.g., price paid for item, fees paid (if any), number of bidders and level of interactive bidding) and mechanisms for collecting and aggregating information in a manner that leverages technology and avoids the need for manual collection,” Rung wrote in the memo. “For your awareness, as a further step, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council will open a case to develop coverage on the use of reverse auctions in the Federal Acquisition Regulation and will address the guidance in this memorandum, as appropriate.”

How A Reverse Auction Works

The rest of the memo doesn’t necessarily address any of the long-held concerns by the Government Accountability Office, lawmakers and vendors.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/517/3875528/Long-time-incoming-OFPP-reverse-auction-memo-rings-hollow

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: competitive bid, FAR Council, FedBid, GSA, lowest price, OFPP, reverse auctions

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