The General Services Administration plans to launch the third iteration of its Alliant governmentwide acquisition contract. The GSA, plans to follow-up on to its One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services procurement vehicle (OASIS). Alliant 3 is an interagency IDIQ contract intended to provide access to IT services to federal agencies. OASIS+ is an integrated non-agency agreement for agency compliance. Advertised as an IDIQ multi-agency agreement to address IT service needs. GSA has opened a call for feedback on his Alliant 3 draft Call for Proposals and is accepting comments until January 6th. The agency said the OASIS+ program includes him one unlimited socio-economic contract and five of his small business socio-economic contracts. Will include one unrestricted and five business socioeconomic contracts. Through OASIS+ and Alliant 3, GSA aims to expand agency access to contracts, improve opportunities for small businesses, and reduce the acquisition burden on the government contracting industry.
On Monday of this week, President Biden signed the bipartisan One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act. The bill was cleared by both the House and Senate.
“Now more than ever, we must pursue commonsense legislation that allows small businesses to thrive in our recovering economy,” said one of the sponsors of this bill Rep. Van Duyne (R) said in an April press release. “Often times, small businesses are unaware of their new responsibilities as federal laws are updated. The One-Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021 will consolidate the resources necessary to navigate the seemingly never-ending web of bureaucratic red tape.” Said Van Duyne
“We should be doing everything in our power to support small businesses in New York and across the country by making the resources available to them clear and easy to access” said another sponsor Rep. Delgado (D).
Current law requires federal agencies to publish small business compliance guides for certain regulations. However, these guides are housed on different agency websites, making it nearly impossible for small businesses to find and utilize them. The One-Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act of 2021 creates a centralized, online “one-stop shop” for small business owners. The online clearinghouse would also list contact information for the appropriate agency staff who could provide regulatory assistance to small businesses.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Support-Small-Business-scaled.jpg14402560Bobby Cottinghamhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngBobby Cottingham2022-10-21 08:02:522022-10-24 10:11:18President Biden has signed the One Stop Shop for Small Business Compliance Act
It’s hard to remember a time when FAS had to deal with so many moving parts than 2022. Beginning with the transition from DUNS numbers to Universal Entity Identification Numbers, to Polaris’ GWAC’s now highly infamous government-wide small business takeover deal, and the unforeseen challenges of inflation affecting nearly every aspect of public and private life. The acquisition sector has experienced rapid mutations since January.
Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Sonny Hashmi continues to simplify the buying and selling experience through organization-monitored schedules and GWACs. The GSA has announced the planned launch of a new bidders experience based on human-centered design. GSA said in an April 13 press release. “The updated buyer experience will offer buyers access to acquisition tools and market research solutions, as well as documents, templates and pricing resources to help plan acquisitions”. According to the GSA, the goals of these messaging tools are typical, including reducing burdens and simplifying the client agency experience. But digging deeper, the FAS is looking to address long-standing complaints about the acquisition process. The challenge with the acquisition process is trying to communicate with the client. Additionally, ensuring consistent implementation can be another hurdle. The fact that the FAS seems to be struggling to scale back the constant change of contracting officers is a bit of a concern, especially given that agencies haven’t planned enough for inflation and its impact on providers. The Department of Defense underestimated our current inflation and expected inflation to be 4%. A senior Pentagon official told Congress on April 5 that the military is now feeling the effects of higher-than-expected inflation. However, the Department of Defense has not released calculations for the reduction in purchasing power.A final decision from the GSA that you may have missed was made in February and published in March. The GSA has decided not to use agents to remove price as a rating factor when awarding contracts for flight planning programs under Section 876 of the Defense Authorization Act of 2019. After a series of conversations with industry and agency clients, GSA decided to maintain contract level pricing. GSA wrote in a March 23 blog post. “Customer agencies expressed deep concerns about moving the pricing negotiation requirement from the contract level to the order level. Most agencies stated that this move would significantly reduce the value that MAS contracts give them”. In a white paper outlining its decision, the GSA said its integration project team conducted six listening sessions with government and industry clients to develop a list of “pros” and “cons”.
One of the reasons for the need to implement 876 agencies under the Roadmap program that includes the is the potential reduction in contracting agency workload and industry support for change. On the other hand, the list of reasons for not implementing 876 agencies is much more sizable. Included in this 876 agencies is the GSA, which already ensures that contract-level pricing is competitive, agencies can request further job-level discounts based on volume purchases, and contract employees can There is no need to engage in formal negotiated procurement as required by FAR Part 15. at the order level.
The GSA wrote, “Early talks with industry during the Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP) listening sessions indicated the risk that there may be some level of industry backlash as a result of not implementing Section 876. While the IPT acknowledges that compared to customer agencies more of our industry partners are open to implementing Section 876, this initial discovery phase did not produce any solid evidence that industry would turn away from MAS if Section 876 was not implemented.” GSA wrote. “Instead the opposite was stated by some industry partners during the IPT’s interview. Some voiced the fear that implementation of Section 876 would put more burden on customer agencies and deter them from using the MAS Program. In addition, while some stated that they would rather be able to develop pricing at the order level, the majority of industry partners interviewed by the IPT acknowledged that there were benefits to having pricing at the contract level”. GSA uses or will use Section 876 agencies for several large multi-award contracts. It’s also considering its use for the upcoming new services multiple award contract.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/gsa-logo.png200200Christopher McCoyhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngChristopher McCoy2022-10-14 16:03:082022-10-14 16:07:05The U.S. Government is responding to the rising Inflation, and the demand for acquisition
The General Service Administration (GSA) is a government organization that delivers real estate, acquisition and technology services to the U.S. government and the American people. The organization values its self on its service accountability and innovation. Often the GSA will outsource their needs to government contracting businesses who is willing and able to provide a solution. Contracting officers within the GSA put their requests on public portals, and private portals often known as schedules.
From the GSA’s about us page:
“GSA provides workplaces by constructing, managing, and preserving government buildings and by leasing and managing commercial real estate. GSA’s acquisition solutions offer private sector professional services, equipment, supplies, and IT to government organizations and the military. GSA also promotes management best practices and efficient government operations through the development of governmentwide policies.”
Contracting With The GSA
The GSA issues long-term, governmentwide contracts that provide federal, state, and local government buyers access to commercial products, services, and solutions at pre-negotiated prices.
If you become a GSA Scheduled contractor you will be able to:
Sell products and services directly to government agencies using streamlined ordering procedures
Maintain compliance with federal regulations and policies
Offer products and services at fair and reasonable prices
If you decide to submit an offer to GSA to be considered for a Multiple Award Schedule contract, you will need to give complete and accurate information that describes your company’s:
Financials
Experience
Past performance
The commercial products, services, and/or solutions you are offering
Obtaining a Schedules contract is a challenging process for a company of any size. GSA offers substantial help with this process, including free training held online and at GSA regional offices.
Alternatively to schedules there are Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs). GWACs provide access to IT requests such as systems design, software engineering, information assurance, and enterprise architecture.
The GSA’s policy on GWACs was issued on September 17th 2012. It states that GSA employees are required to use existing GSA acquisition vehicles before establishing new contracts for similar products or services.
https://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/gsa-logo.png200200Bobby Cottinghamhttps://sabre88.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/sabre88_bc_logo_trans-Copy.pngBobby Cottingham2022-10-11 08:01:132022-10-11 08:02:00What is the GSA
Searching for federal contracts is a complex process of filtering through {inputs} to find the right opportunity for your company. There are websites online that have extradited the process, and made it easier to find and research different government contracts. Platforms like Sam.gov(formerly FBO ) and fpds.gov, are government run contract portals where government departments andoffices share their requests directly too bidders. On the other hand, online platforms like GovWin and GovTribe provide a detailed portfolio of information for federal contracts as a service with freemium subscription options. Because there are so many options starting can be confusing. You may need the directness of a government portal, alternatively you may find the information provided from a paid service necessary for your discovery and the research that follows.
The Federal Procurement Data System, fpds.gov, and The System for Award Management, sam.gov, are two detailed government contracting digital portals. You can search, and use the built-in filters to refine your results to whatever you are looking for. On Fpds, Sam and Seaport, you can create accounts to store your filter preferences. Using government portals is free gives you not only the Contracts name, but also the contract number, response date and the contracting offices contact information. Additionally, submission instructions are uploaded as pdfs and word documents that are downloadable. A SAM registration is required for any entity to bid on and get paid for federal contracts or to receive federal funds. The Sam registration is valid for one year from the date the registration is complete and must be renewed before 60 days of expiration to avoid potential penalties.
GovWin IQ is a cloud-based intelligence solution for government procurement in the United States that helps companies manage public sector opportunities and develop strategies to close deals and outperform the competition. GovWin provides contractors who sell to the federal government with new opportunities, detailed planning intelligence, potential team partnerships, and the strategies small businesses need to stay ahead of the competition and win more federal contracts. GovTribe is an online portal that identifies federal government contracts, funding opportunities, and market information. GovTribe is a collaboration platform that allows contractors and their teams to access real-time information and manage business development activities. It provides contractors with information about the federal contract market through an easily accessible website and turn the information into actionable information. There is also a team sharing feature. EZGovOpps is a federal market research tool designed for government contractors, collection managers, business developers, proposal writers, and government researchers.
How to Filter
Regarding what to filter it depends on your strategy. If you want a broad range of opportunities related to your interest, you can filter based upon NAICs and PSC codes. Alternatively, you can search within your desired department or agency. You can combine the filters for an even more concentrated search, to comb through lists of federal contracts. Eventually you will find what you are looking for. You can find contracts through online portals, government sourced or paid services, depending on your strategy you may use one, the other, or even both for your companies’ procurement.
