GSA Sends out RFI for MAS Consolidation

The General Service Administration issued a Request for Information in order to seek feedback from the industry on the upcoming modernization process of MAS. MAS Consolidation is one of the four cornerstone initiatives of the Federal Marketplace (FMP) Strategy, GSA’s plan to modernize and simplify the buying and selling experience for customers, suppliers, and acquisition professionals. The process began in November 2018 with the goal of consolidating the existing 24 Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) into one single Schedule. This ensures consistency while at the same time make it easier for customers to find solutions under one contract vehicle, ensure that the terms and conditions are met, and eliminate duplicate contracts.

GSA hopes that this consolidation program will be completed by October 2019. According to MAS PMO Director Stephanie Shutt, their goal was to do more than just remove duplicate provisions and clauses. “Streamlining our current terms and conditions, and making it easier for buyers and sellers to work with government is a big part of schedules consolidation,” said Shutt. “The feedback we receive from this RFI is an important building block for GSA’s new single solicitation.” Phase One of the project will be completed during FY19. The new schedule will be organized by categories mapped to the current government wide category structure. GSA is reviewing all of the Special Item Numbers (SINs) currently available under GSA schedules; once complete, the new proposed SINs will be available for public comment. Hopefully the feedback provided would assist GSA into improving their consolidation process. However, at the moment it is still too early to tell how well this consolidation process would go.

Source: https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/newsroom/news-releases/gsa-seeks-feedback-from-industry-on-consolidating-multiple-award-schedules-and-proposed-terms-and-conditions