Trade Agreements Act | The Contracting Education Academy

August 21, 2013 By AMK

Vendor settles in case over Chinese-made supplies

When contractor Malcolm Wilson lost out in a competition to outfit four federal buildings in Illinois with lamps, he suspected the winning vendor of supplying products made in China, a violation of the Trade Agreements Act.

To find out, he filed a Freedom of Information Act with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversaw the project, to learn the model of lamp the competitor was supplying, then sent an email to the lamp maker asking where the product as made.

China, the manufacturer responded.

One year after Wilson filed a False Claims Act lawsuit against the competitor, Supplies Now Inc., the company agreed to pay $270,000 to resolve the case, according to the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General, which announced the July 30 settlement Monday.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130805/ACQUISITION01/308050010/Vendor-settles-case-over-Chinese-made-supplies#

July 17, 2013 By AMK

GSA claims $200 million in office supply savings

The General Services Administration says it saved $200 million on purchases of common office supplies through its Office Supplies Second Generation program, a June 21 GSA statement says.

Through the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative, GSA has awarded fifteen blanket purchase agreements for OS2, the statement says.

Thirteen of those BPAs were awarded to small businesses. Those small businesses received $461 million in sales and took 76 percent of the OS2 business.

As part of the OS2 program GSA developed a dynamic market pricing model to help the small businesses negotiate better pricing with their own suppliers in order to pass those savings back to the government, GSA says.

The pricing model will result in more than $12 million in incremental direct savings, the statement says.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/gsa-claims-200-million-office-supply-savings/2013-06-24

May 10, 2013 By AMK

Feds investigate office supply vendor

The government is investigating whether an office supply contractor has been improperly selling products made in China in violation of the Trade Agreements Act, court records show.

The General Services Administration’s inspector general’s office has been investigating Florida-based Capitol Supply Inc. for more than two years, according to a motion the IG filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court in Washington. The motion asks a judge to force Capitol Supply Inc. to turn over billing, sales and other information in response to two subpoenas.

Separately, the Justice Department this week joined in a False Claims Act lawsuit filed against Capitol Supply. The suit, filed back in 2010 but unsealed on Monday, accuses the company of selling illegal office products to the government.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130418/ACQUISITION03/304180004/Feds-investigate-office-supply-vendor

April 9, 2013 By AMK

Hacked U.S. tech contractors oppose anti-China procurement law

Technology contractors are warning Congress that a new counter-cyber spy law will leave agencies even more vulnerable to breaches by slowing the purchase of security systems to screen for Chinese-made components.

It might seem counterintuitive for companies allegedly robbed of proprietary designs by Chinese hackers to oppose protections. And it’s worth noting that information technology businesses generally are reluctant to publicly accuse China of hacking, partly because they have Chinese customers.

But the firms say discriminating against China could encourage retaliation and additional federal security audits could prevent the timely installation of safe network controls.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2013/04/hacked-us-tech-contractors-oppose-anti-china-procurement-law/62316/?oref=nextgov_today_nl

January 13, 2012 By AMK

SBA, to be elevated to Cabinet level, is among agencies Obama wants consolidated

On Friday (Jan. 13, 2012) President Obama announced he will ask Congress for the power to merge six federal trade and commerce agencies, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The WSJ report said Obama will ask Congress for “reorganizational” power. The last president to have this power was Ronald Reagan.

The new power would allow the president to propose mergers in order to save money and make the government work more efficiently, according to the report.

The plan would allow Obama to propose mergers that would be “guaranteed an up-or-down vote from Congress within 90 days,” the report said.

The six agencies Obama wants to consolidate include the Commerce Department‘s core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Trade and Development Agency.

The report cited a White House official who said the merger would save taxpayers around $3 billion over the next decade by eliminating duplicate overhead costs.

In addition, between 1,000 and 2,000 jobs would be eliminated through attrition, according to the WSJ.

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