Just GSA

GSA IT 70 issues Refresh #23

The Center for IT Schedule Program has included Refresh 23 in Modification FX73 to reflect the changes to solicitation number FCIS-JB-980001-B, effective March 31, 2009. Please refer to the Modification document for complete changes to the Terms and Conditions of the contract.

Items of importance, according to me:

(1) Adding of new SINs:

132 9 -- Purchase of Used or Refurbished Equipment.

132-60A -- Electronic Credentials, Not Identity Proofed.

132-60B -- Electronic Credentials, Identity Proofed.

132-60C -- Digital Certificates, including ACE.

132-60D -- E-authentication Hardware Tokens.

132-60E -- Remote Identity and Access Managed Service Offering.

132-60F -- Identity and Access Management Professional Services.

(2) Software Maintenance must be identified as a Product or a Service.

(3) Offerors must complete the "Pathway to Success" course.

(4) Submit a two-page (maximum) narrative describing the company’s corporate experience for all proposed (SINs), regardless of the number of SINs being offered. For each SIN offered, your company shall provide the type of supplies and/or professional services procured by either a Government or Commercial entity for a minimum of two years.

At a minimum, the narrative shall include the following:

(A) Organization’s number of years of corporate experience relevant to this offer.

(B) Organization’s structure, to include size, experience in the field, and resources available to enable the offeror to fulfill requirements.

(C) Brief history of the organization’s activities contributing to the development of relevant expertise and capabilities.

(D) Information that demonstrates organizational and accounting controls and manpower presently in-house or the ability to acquire the type and kinds of manpower proposed.

(E) Describe/identify how the contract will be marketed to ordering activities.

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Summarized below are the significant changes resulting from Refresh 23:

1. The following clauses are ADDED to the contract:
   
   
   • 52.203-13 -->
     
     
   • 52.212-4 -- CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS-COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2008) (DEVIATION I FEB 2007)
     
     
   • 52.212-4 -- CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS - COMMERCIAL ITEMS (OCT 2008) (ALTERNATE I - OCT 2008) (DEVIATION I - FEB 2007)
     
     
   • 52.222-51 -- EXEMPTION FROM APPLICATION OF THE SERVICE CONTRACT ACT TO CONTRACTS FOR MAINTENANCE, CALIBRATION, OR REPAIR OF CERTAIN EQUIPMENT--REQUIREMENTS (NOV 2007)
     
     
   • 52.222-53 -- EXEMPTION FROM APPLICATION OF THE SERVICE CONTRACT ACT TO CONTRACTS FOR CERTAIN SERVICES--REQUIREMENTS (FEB 2009)
     
     
   • 52.223-15 -- ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN ENERGY-CONSUMING PRODUCTS (DEC 2007)
     
     
   • 52.233-4 -- APPLICABLE LAW FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT CLAIM (OCT 2004)
     
     
   • 552.243-72 -- MODIFICATIONS (MULTIPLE AWARD SCHEDULE) (JUL 2000) (ALTERNATE I - SEP1999)
     
     
   • I-FSS-600 -- CONTRACT PRICE LISTS (JUL 2004) (ALTERNATE I - DEC 2008)
     
   • The following clauses are DELETED from the contract:
     
     
     • 52.204-7 -- CENTRAL CONTRACTOR REGISTRATION (JUL 2006)
       
       
     • 52.212-4 -- CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (FEB 2007) (ALTERNATE I - FEB 2007)
       
       
     • 552.243-72 -- MODIFICATIONS (MULTIPLE AWARD SCHEDULE) (JUL 2000)
       
       
     • I-FSS-600 -- CONTRACT PRICE LISTS (JUL 2004)
       
       
     • CI-FSS-003 -- CONTRACT PRICE LISTS (JUL 2004)
     
     
   • The following clauses are UPDATED in the contract:
     
     
     • 52.212-5 -- CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS REQUIRED TO IMPLEMENT STATUTES OR EXECUTIVE ORDERS--COMMERCIAL ITEMS (MAR 2009)
       
       
     • 52.219-9 -- SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN (APR 2008)
       
       
     • 52.225-13 -- RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN FOREIGN PURCHASES (JUN 2008)
       
       
     • 52.225-5 -- TRADE AGREEMENTS (MAR 2009)
       
       
     • CI-FSS-052 -- AUTHENTICATION OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (FEB 2009)
     
     
   • The following Special Item Numbers (SINs) are ADDED to the Solicitation:
     
     
     • 132 9 -- Purchase of Used or Refurbished Equipment
       Includes the following used or refurbished equipment: telephone equipment, audio and video teleconferencing equipment, communications security equipment, facsimile equipment, broadcast band radio, two-way radio, microwave radio equipment, satellite communications equipment, radio transmitters/receivers (airborne), radio navigation equipment/antennas, pagers and public address systems, communications equipment cables, fiber optic cables, fiber optic cables and harnesses, coaxial cables, desktop computers, professional workstations, servers, laptop/portable/notebook computers, large scale computers, optical/imaging systems, other systems, printers, displays, graphics (light pens, digitizers, touch screens), network equipment, other communications equipment, optical recognition input/output (I/O) devices, storage devices, other I/O and storage devices, ADP support equipment, microcomputer control devices, telephone answering, voice messaging systems, ADP boards, installation of used or refurbished ADP equipment, and installation of used or refurbished telephone equipment.
       
       
     • 132-60A -- Electronic Credentials, Not Identity Proofed (Assurance Level 1 - OMB M-04-04) Managed Service Offering
       Includes managed service offerings that allow customer agencies to interface applications to the hosted service to act as its identity authentication agent and validate application users or subscribers as they attempt to log in to the agency application. This service offering does not include the requirement to know the true identity of the user. Agencies will rely on the authentication service in granting account access to the user. Offerings must include policy-compliant agency setup, testing, credential issuance, subscriber customer service account management, revocation, and credential validation as part of the basic service.
       
       Technical evaluation criteria are:
       - Successful completion of Level 1 Credential Assessment Include Assessment Report
       - Successful completion of applicable interoperability testing Include Test Report
       - Compliance with guidance in NIST SP 800-63, OMB Memorandum 04-04 and the Credential Assessment Framework
       
       
     • 132-60B -- Electronic Credentials, Identity Proofed (Assurance Level 2 - OMB M-04-04) Managed Service Offering
       Includes managed service offerings that allow customer agencies to interface applications to the hosted service to act as its identity authentication agent and validate application users or subscribers as they attempt to log in to the agency application. This service offering includes the requirement to know the true identity of the user. Agencies will rely on the authentication service in granting account access to the user. Offerings must include policy-compliant agency setup, testing, identity proofing, credential issuance, subscriber customer service account management, revocation, and credential validation as part of the basic service.
       
       Technical evaluation criteria are:
       - Successful completion of Level 2 Credential Assessment Include Assessment report
       - Successful completion of applicable interoperability testing Include Test Report
       -Compliance with guidance in NIST SP 800-63, OMB Memorandum 04-04 and the Credential Assessment Framework
       
       
     • 132-60C -- Digital Certificates, including ACES (Assurance Level 3 and 4 - OMB M-04-04)
       Managed services that include the issuance of digital certificates for use by customers to access government online systems. This service offering includes the requirement to know the true identity of the user. Agencies will rely on the validation by the Certification Authority (CA) as proof of certificate validity and grant access to the user. Offerings must include policy compliant ID proofing, Credential issuance, continued account management, revocation, and certificate validation as part of the basic service.
       
       Technical evaluation criteria are:
       - Successful completion of Level 3 and 4 Credential Assessment Include Assessment report
       - ACES Security Certification and Accreditation (C&A) as a condition of obtaining and retaining approval to operate as a Certification Authority (CA) under the ACES Certificate policy and the GSA ACES Program. Include Authorization to Operate (ATO) letter.
       - Common criteria for other Certification Authorities cross certified by the Federal Bridge
       - Compliance with guidance in NIST SP 800-63, OMB Memorandum 04-04 and the Credential Assessment Framework
       
       
     • 132-60D -- E-authentication Hardware Tokens
       An optional hardware token for generation of ACES key pairs and storage of the private key.
       
       Offerings must be:
       - Listed on GSA s FIPS 201 Approved Products List.
       - Crypto Modules must be FIPS 140-2 validated.
       
       
     • 132-60E -- Remote Identity and Access Managed Service Offering
       Managed services that allow agencies to interface to the hosted service that is aggregating multiple identity sources into a single interface, and to use policy compliant sources to validate application users or subscribers as they attempt to log in to agency applications. This service offering includes the requirement to know the claimed identity of the user. Agencies will rely on the output in granting account access to the user. Offerings must include precursor services such as bulk load, testing, identity proofing, credential issuance, subscriber customer service account management, revocation, and credential validation as part of the basic service. Also includes translation and validation services, and partial services such as 3rd-party identity proofing or secure hosting.
       
       Technical evaluation criteria are:
       - Demonstrated compliance with NIST SP 800-63, as applicable to the technologies being utilized by the offeror.
       - Compliance with published E-Authentication architecture, verified by a clearance letter from GSA s Office of Governmentwide Policy.
       - Compliance with OMB M-04-04.
       
       
     • 132-60F -- Identity and Access Management Professional Services
       Supports planning, risk assessment, deployment, implementation and integration services for customer agency applications, including operations and customer service, for both certificate-based and non-certificate-based applications.
       
       Technical evaluation criteria are:
       - Documented experience with deployment of policy-compliant Identity and Access Management projects in government agencies. This includes IAM technologies and standards, including Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and the WS-Federation specification. Offerors should describe in detail their competencies when proposing under this SIN.
       - Offerors must describe their involvement in at least 2 prior federal government application deployment projects for public-facing IT systems.
       
   • The following Special Item Numbers (SINs) are DELETED from the Solicitation:
     
     
     • 132 60 -- Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES) Program
       This program provides identity management and authentication services and ACES digital certificates for use primarily by external end users to access Federal Government electronic services and transactions in accordance with the X.509 Certificate Policy for the Federal ACES Program.
       
       NOTE: Digital Certificate Products and accompanying PKI Services are for external users to conduct electronic transactions with Federal agency applications. This facilitates secure electronic access to government information and services using public key infrastructure/digital signature technology. Digital Certificate Products and Services provide the speed and immediacy of electronic transactions while protecting business-critical information from interception, tampering, and unauthorized access. The General Services Administration (GSA) has established the Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES) Program to provide digital certificates and PKI services for enabling E-Government applications that require logical access control, digital signature and/or electronic authentication. The ACES Program provides for the issuance of electronic credentials to individuals and entities external to the Federal Government. The Federal PKI Policy Authority has approved the policies and requirements of the ACES Program to satisfy
       
          NOTE: SIN 132 60 was replaced by SINs 132 60 A-F
       
   • The following Special Item Numbers (SINs) are UPDATED in the Solicitation:
     
     
     • 132-8 -- Purchase of New Equipment
       Includes telephone equipment, audio and video teleconferencing equipment, communications security equipment, facsimile equipment, broadcast band radio, two-way radio, microwave radio equipment, satellite communications equipment, radio transmitters/receivers (airborne), radio navigation equipment/antennas, pagers and public address systems, communications equipment cables, fiber optic cables, fiber optic cables and harnesses, coaxial cables, desktop computers, professional workstations, servers, laptop/portable/notebook computers, large scale computers, optical/imaging systems, other systems, printers, displays, graphics (light pens, digitizers, touch screens), network equipment, other communications equipment, optical recognition input/output ( I/O) devices, storage devices, other I/O and storage devices, ADP support equipment, microcomputer control devices, telephone answering, voice messaging systems, ADP boards, installation of ADP equipment, and installation of telephone equipment.
       
          NOTE: All references to USED or REFURBISHED equipment were removed from SIN 132-8 and are now covered under the new, SIN 132-9. All contract holders with used or refurbished equipment must notify the Contracting Officer, via a Cover Letter, as to which equipment are "used or refurbished" and be modified to SIN 132-9 (deleted from SIN 132-8 and added to SIN 132-9). If these items are not modified, the contract may be cancelled.
       
       
     • 132-12 -- Maintenance of Equipment, Repair Services and/or Repair/Spare Parts
       Maintenance, Repair Service, and Repair Parts/Spare Parts for Government-Owned General Purpose Commercial Information Technology Equipment, Radio/Telephone Equipment, (After Expiration of Guarantee/Warranty Provisions and/or When Required Service Is Not Covered by Guarantee/Warranty Provisions) and for Leased Equipment.
       
       
     • 132-32 -- Term Software License
       Includes operating system software, application software, EDI translation and mapping software, enabled E-Mail message based products, Internet software, database management programs, and other software.

       Software maintenance as a product includes the publishing of bug/defect fixes via patches and updates/upgrades in function and technology to maintain the operability and usability of the software product. It may also include other no charge support that is included in the purchase price of the product in the commercial marketplace. No charge support includes items such as user blogs, discussion forums, on-line help libraries and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), hosted chat rooms, and limited telephone, email and/or web-based general technical support for user s self diagnostics.

       Software maintenance as a product does NOT include the creation, design, implementation, integration, etc. of a software package. These examples are considered software maintenance as a service under SIN 132.34 Software Maintenance.

       Software Maintenance as a product is billed at the time of purchase.

     • 132-33 -- Perpetual Software License
       Includes operating system software, application software, EDI translation and mapping software, enabled E-mail message based products, Internet software, database management programs, and other software.

       Software maintenance as a product includes the publishing of bug/defect fixes via patches and updates/upgrades in function and technology to maintain the operability and usability of the software product. It may also include other no charge support that is included in the purchase price of the product in the commercial marketplace. No charge support includes items such as user blogs, discussion forums, on-line help libraries and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), hosted chat rooms, and limited telephone, email and/or web-based general technical support for user s self diagnostics.

       Software maintenance as a product does NOT include the creation, design, implementation, integration, etc. of a software package. These examples are considered software maintenance as a service under SIN 132.34 Software Maintenance as a Service.

       Software Maintenance as a product is billed at the time of purchase.

     • 132-34 -- Maintenance of Software as a Service
       Software maintenance as a service creates, designs, implements, and/or integrates customized changes to software that solve one or more problems and is not included with the price of the software. Software maintenance as a service includes person-to-person communications regardless of the medium used to communicate: telephone support, on-line technical support, customized support, and/or technical expertise which are charged commercially.

       Software maintenance as a service is billed in arrears in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3324.

     • 132-50 -- Training Courses
       Includes training.
       
       
     • 132-51 -- Information Technology Professional Services
       Includes resources and facilities management, database planning and design, systems analysis and design, network services, programming, millennium conversion services, conversion and implementation support, network services project management, data/records management, subscriptions/publications (electronic media), and other services.
       
   • The following Solicitation Attachments are UPDATED in the Solicitation Package:
     
     
     • Past Performance Evaluation
       
       
     • Proposal Price List Preparation
       
       
     • Commercial Sales Practice Format (CSP-1)
       
       
     • Letter of Supply Template
       
       
     • Blanket Purchase Agreement Template

     NOTE: The Blanket Purchase Agreement Template was originally located within the Proposal Price List Preparation attachment, but is now a separate attachment. The content of the Blanket Purchase Agreement Template was not altered.

GSA IT 70 Performance Bragging Rights...Deserved?

On Friday, May 29, the GSA IT 70 group sent out a mass e-mail to schedule holders with an update on their customer relations improvements.  Amongst the message was the following production numbers since Jan 2009:

400 new contracts issued, 7,300 mods approved and 450 contract extensions issued.

Now, these sound like big numbers but once divided amongst the Centers 122 staff, they fail to impress me.  In five months, 400 new contracts is a mere  3.28 contracts per Contract Specialist/Contracting Officer (CS/CO) (less than one (1) a month), only 11.97 mods were produced per CS/CO, per month and each averaged 3.69 contract extensions.

When I was a CS for the DoD in the mid 1980's, the production expectations were a mere ten (10) line items per day and me and the other recent college grads averaged over 100 per day and were looked at with scorn by the old CS/CO guard.  I actually had all of my end-of-year contracts completed by the end of July and I spent the next two-months working the caseloads of other CS/CO's who performed at the minimum expectations.  My prize for said service, was employee of the month, in which I was allowed to park my dilapidated 1971 BMW 2002 next to the General's car for a week (a funny site).

Another GSA awardee pays a big fine $128 million for errant monitoring

Another GSA awardee pays a big fine $128 million for errant monitoring of their price reduction monitoring clause (see below).  Again, unless you have big pockets, most firms paying a $128 million fine would be out of business, so ensure that you have firm/hard-coated business practices in-place in your internal GSA quoting/processing and bounce them against the class or classes of customers listed for price reduction monitoring clause from your Final Proposal Revision (basis for award).

NetApp settles GSA dispute for $128M

Washington Technology, 4-15-09

 

NetApp Inc. has agreed to pay the government $128 million to settle a dispute with the Justice Department and the General Services Administration.

NetApp is one of several manufacturers that have had run-ins with the GSA’s inspector general over pricing on the GSA Schedule 70. Justice and the inspector general have been investigating the price-reduction clauses of manufacturers such as Cisco Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., EMC Corp. and Panasonic Corp.

In NetApp’s case, they were looking at sales that occurred between August 1997 and February 2005, NetApp said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The settlement is “neither an admission nor denial by NetApp of any of the claims alleged” by Justice, the filing states. The company settled as part of a compromise to avoid more litigation and more risk.

NetApp will pay the $128 million plus 3 percent on an annual rate, calculated from Feb. 18, 2009. The company is required to pay by April 27.

The investigation started as a fraud claim filed by Igor Kapuscinki, under the False Claims Act.Kapuscinski will be paid $19.2 million According to the agreement, out the settlement funds.

GSA Refresh #23 rumor..Software Maintenance billing defined.....

An unnamed but reliable GSA source has advised that Refresh #23 for the IT 70 program is forthcoming that will clearly identify that software maintenance as a product vs. software maintenance as a service will be clarified (not currently clear, per GSA issued Mod FX65 - see below), which will allow software firms that state/certify that their software maintenance as a product would allowed to be paid for like any other product vs. being billed month or quarterly in arrears for software maintenance identified as a service.

   Software Maintenance as a Product is:

 

Software maintenance as a product includes the publishing of bug/defect fixes via patches and updates/upgrades in function and technology to maintain the operability and usability of the software product.  It may also include other no charge support that are included in the purchase price of the product in the commercial marketplace.  No charge support includes items such as user blogs, discussion forums, on-line help libraries and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), hosted chat rooms, and limited telephone, email and/or web-based general technical support for user’s self diagnostics.

 

Software maintenance as a product does NOT include the creation, design, implementation, integration, etc. of a software package.  These examples are considered software maintenance as a service.

 

Software Maintenance as a Service is:

Software maintenance as a service creates, designs, implements, and/or integrates customized changes to software that solve one or more problems and is not included with the price of the software. Software maintenance as a service includes person-to-person communications regardless of the medium used to communicate: telephone support, on-line technical support, customized support, and/or technical expertise which are charged commercially.  Software maintenance as a service is billed arrears in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3324.

b.             Invoices for maintenance service shall be submitted by the Contractor on a quarterly or monthly basis, after the completion of such period.  Maintenance charges must be paid in arrears (31 U.S.C. 3324).  PROMPT PAYMENT DISCOUNT, IF APPLICABLE, SHALL BE SHOWN ON THE INVOICE.

GSA's Central Intake Desk (CID)....progress??

Well, GSA has announced more changes (in addition to a 90 day notice to update GSA price lists on Advantage or being de-listed, issuing a customer satisfaction survey, etc) that now includes the formation of the Central Intake Desk (CID).

GSA's CID notice states that "in order to improve customer service, GSA Center for IT Schedule 70 has implemented a Central Intake Desk for the receipt of all Modification Requests.

In the future, please submit your request electronically through GSA’s eMod system or forward your modification requests directly to our Central Intake Desk."

The real purpose behind the CID is to monitor how long it takes CO's to process modifications.  I'll be the first to admit that the GSA Schedule 70 CO's have too heavy of a burden and often undergo variable management initiatives without common logic.  With the exception of a CO actually caring about her clients and/or their personal pride, CO's who fall below the processing benchmarks will still receive the same annual pay increase as their fellow GSA COs, regardless of performance. 

I'm certain that the initial phase of the CID will delay mods by several weeks.  Also, the IT Schedule 70 group has CO's in MO and GA, so it's yet to be seen if mods will be scanned by the CID and e-mailed to the remote CO's or more likely dropped in the mail, received by the CO, mailed back to the CID and then mailed back to the contract holder.

GSA provides 90-day notice to update GSA Advantage or be de-listed...

By definition, each GSA contract awardee is required to update their on-line GSA products and services to GSA Advantage within five-days of any contract mod approval.  In reality, the practice is not enforced, plus GSA doesn't make it easy to publish such, even though GSA's free software (Schedule Input Program) is on version 7.3, so, my firm, CapITal Reps uses a third-party firm to process.

GSA sent out a mass e-mail message in late January to all schedule holders that they have ninety (90) days to (1) submit an electronic catalog/price list update, or( 2) verify that your existing on-line catalog/price list is current and accurate.   If an electronic catalog/price list or verification is not received within 90 days of this email, the price list(s) will be removed from GSA Advantage.

If  one is goes through the effort of being awarded a GSA schedule, one needs to keep their Advantage files current, accurate and complete.  While less than 1/10th of 1% of all GSA sales are transacted on Advantage, most GSA eligible ordering end-users will use Advantage to provide their contracting officer three known sources (or preferred sources) for their needs.  Needless to say, if you haven't uploaded your latest price list (including price reductions), don't expect any requests for quotes.

If you have any questions about the 90 day notice, contact CapITal Reps @ capsales@capitalreps.com or 703.326.0640 or  contact the GSA Vendor Support Center at vendor.support@gsa.gov or 877-495-4849.

False Claims Act inquires are up....how to stay our of trouble....

The Wall Street Journal reported on 3-3-09 that "Federal prosecutors accused EMC Corp. of paying illegal kickbacks and overcharging U.S. government agencies, as part of a broad investigation of federal technology contracting.  Separately, NetApp Inc, indicated it expected to pay $128 million to resolve a government inquiry also related to alleged illegal overbilling on government contracts."

Both companies sell computer storage systems. EMC, of Hopkinton, Mass., denied the government's allegations. Net- App, of Sunnyvale, Calif., declined to discuss its filing.

While kickbacks in the federal space are unusual, more important to me is that the complaint against EMC also alleges the company illegally overcharged the government on a contract for "hundreds of millions of dollars in sales by EMC to the Government," by billing the government more than comparable private-sector customers, which would be a violation of the False Claims Act (see www.taf.org/federalfca.htm).

A Justice Department spokesman declined to estimate the damages the government would be seeking. In 2007, International Business Machines Corp. and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP agreed to pay a combined $5.3 million to settle related cases against them.  Sun and Oracle have also paid fines in the past.

With each GSA contract is awarded, a class or classes of customers are selected/negotiated in which the awardee is required to maintain the initial GSA benefit (in terms of markup or discount) than their class(es) of customers for price reduction monitoring, when and only when they offer a lower price to said customers (price reduction monitoring clause) AND only when a GSA ordering activity has placed an order for the same goods/services during the period of performance of the non-federal customers order(s).

The crux of the problem is that very rarely does GSA or the contract awardee actually define who the said customers are, as they are widely classified as commercial end-users, national accounts or corporate accounts and commercial firms just aren't in a habit of classifying their customers as such.

My suggestion to my GSA clients is that if their basis of award and price monitoring reduction is so widely broad as "commercial end-users", they need to document on file at the time of award which of their current customers are classified as such and have that list linked to their order management entry system and to update the list quarterly.

GSA seeks customer satisfaction feedback - let's hope they act on the results...

Well, it's always good to have a customers evaluate your performance, so I'm pleased to see that GSA is interested in such.  While GSA's survey originated before the election of President Obama, change is still forthcoming.  By the way, ALL GSA new offerors are required to submit a completed Open Ratings Customer Satisfaction Report, which natuarally, rarely has negative comments.

I sincerely hope that GSA management reviews and actually implements changes based on the survey results rather than a federal SES official simply checking the survey off as a completed process for their annual performance review.

Per the e-mail survey, the "General Services Administration (GSA) is deeply committed to better meeting your needs and those of the vendor community as a whole. In support of this goal, a survey is being conducted to measure your satisfaction with the Procurement Contracting Officer (PCO) and contract award/mod process.

CFI Group, an independent satisfaction research and consulting firm, is administering this survey. Your responses will remain completely confidential and your identity will not be revealed to GSA unless desired. The survey is conducted via a secure server and is authorized by Office of Management and Budget Control No. 1505-0191.

Because it makes them "feel good"

Why else would GSA create ANOTHER GSA schedule* (now up to 44 GSA schedules) just to cover "Green Support Services" other than to "feel good", like Prius owners, who's gas savings dwarf their increase in car insurance.  These services could have and should have been added to GSA Schedule 899 for Environmental Services by simply creating a new Special Item Number.

* GSA creates contract for 'green' support serviceshttp://www.fcw.com/online/news/154231-1.html/?s=dailyNL_10_30
FCW, 10-29-08

The General Services Administration said today it created a new Multiple Award Schedule contract vehicle to provide energy-management support services for agencies. The vehicle seeks to help agencies comply with a presidential executive order to strengthen environmental, energy and transportation conservation goals, the agency said.

Executive Order 13423, which President Bush signed last year, sets goals for agencies in energy efficiency, renewable energy, recycling, sustainable buildings, electronics stewardship and water conservation. The order also requires that agencies use environmental management systems as the framework for managing and continually improving those sustainable practices.

“EO 13423 was a tremendous step toward environmental responsibility governmentwide,” said Tyree Varnado, acting commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. “At GSA, we continue to strive to make it easier for all government agencies to comply.”

GSA’s affiliated contractors can provide the services and expertise agencies need to develop energy management in government buildings, ranging from preliminary energy audits to comprehensive, full-service energy-management solutions, Varnado said.

GSA Advantage - When does a 24% increase = 1.59% in Sales?

While the Federal Computer Week link www.fcw.com/online/news/154044-1.html states that GSA Advantage (GSA Online Web Purchasing site) sales increased 24% last year, they failed to state that they only represented a mere 1.59% of all GSA sales in FY 2007 ($35.2 billion).

 

GSA Advantage sales has always been anemic and will continue to be such until GSA improves the uploading and approval process.  Currently, GSA Advantage data is at least 30-45 days old as it typically takes GSA 21-30 days to approve a mod request, GSA awardees are required (but most don't) to post any approved mods five days after approval and then GSA CO's can take anywhere from a day to a week+ to approve the mod/upload data.

 

GSA Advantage is best suited to validate that a firm holds a GSA schedule and which manufacturers are approved but ill suited for current and accurate part #'s and pricing.  Also, most CO's who place GSA Advantage orders have to modify their orders (costly and time consuming), as quite often there has been a price decrease, an occasional price increase or sometimes the product is no longer available.