MAS panel wants more feedback

Government and industry have willingly and generously shared their opinions on improving the General Services Administration’s schedules program, but the most important constituency has been relatively silent.

In four meetings that the Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel has held since May, only one customer agency has spoken before the panel, Eldred Jackson, deputy director of administration at the Justice Department’s Justice Program Office.

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New law opens some of GSA's contracts

President Bush signed a bill that opens some of the General Services Administration’s contracts to state and local governments to make some purchases.

The Local Preparedness Acquisition Act (H.R. 3179), signed June 26, authorizes state and local governments to use GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules to buy law enforcement and security-related items, including firefighting and rescue equipment.

Jim Williams, the president’s nominee for GSA administrator, has said he supports the legislation but wants to open all schedules contracts for use by state and local governments.

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Commerce official nominated to head SBA

Santuanu “Sandy” Baruah has been nominated to head the Small Business Administration. Baruah is now assistant secretary of economic development at the Commerce Department. The White House announced the nomination June 25.

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Williams nominated as GSA administrator

Jim Williams, the commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service, has been nominated to be GSA's administrator, the White House announced today.

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Are schedule prices a good deal?

The Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel discovered its mission last week. Meeting for the fourth time, the panel narrowed its attention to five areas.

The panel will focus on stakeholders’ views of the schedules program, their expectations, the program’s business model, pricing policies and whether companies in the program offer agencies the same price they would offer their most-favored commercial customers.

The overarching question facing the panel is whether General Services Administration contracts offer agencies the lowest price.

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New guidelines to improve interagency contracting

Long before Paul Denett became administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in 2006, interagency contracts had multiplied out of control, at least in the eyes of some procurement experts. Denett now says he wants “a little less of the Wild West” in interagency contracting.

OFPP identified one category of interagency contracting — multiagency contracts — as particularly needing stricter controls. Denett targeted MACs in a new policy guidance that OFPP issued June 6, but some procurement experts say it may be too little, too late.

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Bill would halt competitions for a year

A House appropriations bill in its early stages seeks to block use of the public/private competition system for a year and let next president deal with the issue, a House member has said.

Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Financial Services and General Government appropriations subcommittee, said June 17 the governmentwide provision would halt "this administration’s controversial and detrimental federal workforce program.”

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Panel seeks input from GSA's customers

Career officials from several agencies could receive invitations to speak to a panel that's reviewing the General Services Administration’s Multiple Award Schedules program.

At a meeting June 17, the Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel said it will request input from auditors, inspectors general, officials at large and small agencies, and congressional staff members so the members can get a better sense of what’s happening with the $36 billion buying program run by GSA.

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New interagency contracts might need approval

Officials might finally be cracking down on interagency contracts after years of concern about their proliferation. Paul Denett, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, wrote in a June 6 memo that OFPP wants to establish a process for reviewing business cases for new multiagency contracts (MACs).

Such a review could help stem abuses of MACs, said Neal Fox, consultant and former assistant commissioner of acquisition at the General Services Administration. The Federal Acquisition Regulation has specific rules governing MACs, but agencies often ignore them. Meanwhile, creating MACs allows agencies to skirt OFPP rules and oversight that apply to other contracts, Fox said.

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GSA expects schedules office by July

The General Services Administration could set up a new office as early as July to oversee its multiple-award schedule contracts, a GSA official said today.

Leaders of the offices in charge of various schedule contracts are still negotiating the details of the new office’s role, said Steven Kempf, assistant commissioner for acquisition management at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. However, he added that the new office likely wouldn’t play a heavy-handed role in supervising the $36 billion program.

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Obama, McCain want spending transparency

Agencies might have to open more of their contracting activities for public scrutiny now that the presumptive presidential nominees of both major parties have declared their support for a bill to make the federal government more transparent. But a procurement expert said the bill might slow down the procurement process if agencies become more cautious about awarding contracts.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the presumptive Democratic nominee, introduced the bill, called the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act (S. 3077). Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee, was an original co-sponsor of the legislation.

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Price clause spurs more questions

What does the price reduction clause mean?

Contractors and government procurement officials say they often are confused about what it means, which is why the General Services Administration created a panel to study that and other questions related to its schedule contracts.

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Senate passes purchasing bill

The Senate has passed legislation to open to state and local governments the General Services Administration's contract for homeland security and law enforcement products and services.

The Local Preparedness Acquisition Act would open GSA’s Schedule 84 contract for cooperative purchasing agreements.

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GSA: Congress should broaden state, local access to GSA contracts

As the Senate considers legislation that would open several General Services Administration contracts to state and local agencies, a top GSA official said today that the measure should include more opportunities.

The Local Preparedness Acquisition Act, which the Senate might vote on this week, would open GSA’s Schedule 84 for security and law enforcement products and services to state and local governments. The House passed a similar bill in December.

Currently, those agencies can only use the schedule contracts through cooperative purchasing agreements or when they’re recovering from a disaster.

Jim Williams, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said state and local agencies should have had access long ago to GSA’s contracts and that the bill should extend beyond Schedule 84 and even beyond state and local governments.


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New requirements for interagency agreements

Agencies now have guidelines from the lead federal procurement office designed to help them make sound business decisions and better manage assisted acquisitions.

Paul Denett, administrator of the Office Federal Procurement Policy, wrote in a memo accompanying the 70-page document that agencies currently lack a precise understanding of their responsibilities in interagency acquisitions. Without knowing what’s expected of the agency requesting the assistance and agency providing it, each party has struggled with poor planning, inconsistent uses of contract competitions, weak management and concerns about financial controls.

Interagency contracts appeal to contracting officers who are understaffed and under pressure to meet their agencies’ acquisition requirements quickly, officials have said, while adding agencies can buy the wrong thing as quickly.

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GSA reshapes office for efficient operations

General Services Administration officials are creating an Office of Infrastructure Optimization to handle several technology programs, a GSA official said June 4.

The new office, which would be in the Office of Integrated Technology Services, will combine several governmentwide initiatives and various enterprisewide operations, such as handling data-at-rest and antivirus software offerings through the SmartBuy program. Officials are also creating an Identity Management Division by combining GSA’s Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 program management office and e-authentication division, said John Johnson, assistant commissioner for ITS at GSA's Federal Acquisition Service.

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