Winvale Blog

The Department of Defense (DoD) is addressing an agency-wide concern with the current use and future of GSA Schedules. DoD officials are working with the GSA to explore new options for contracting. In light of recent budget cutbacks, the looming threat of sequestration, and task forces dedicated to eliminating redundancy in procurement across the department- contracting is at the forefront of reform.

The DoD is executing a pilot program exploring the use of different types of contracts for different procurement opportunities. Currently the DoD is somewhat restricted to signing fixed priced contracts. Fixed cost contracts naturally run the risk of wasted funding and contractors not using the most cost-effective strategies. One method currently being explored within GSA Schedules for the DoD is a cost-reimbursement method. This method would require contractors to cover costs up front and provide incentives to complete a service quickly and at the lowest cost. Understandably the…

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A recent Bloomberg Government study reminds us that Federal Government spending on multiple-award contracts (MACs) rose 49 percent to $121 billion over the last four years, more than double the growth rate of all other contracting programs within the Federal Government.

These contracts often go overlooked outside the federal contracting community, but are intended to reduce costs by simplifying the procurement process for agencies in the federal space. Agencies (such as the DoD) will hold competitions to pick multiple suppliers, as opposed to one single provider. Once chosen for the pool, these contractors will bid against each other for orders as specific needs come up.

The rapid growth of multiple-award contracts has raised the stakes for the largest of Government suppliers. Prime contractors know it is the opportunity for millions or billions in revenue for the term of the agreement, which is frequently five years or even longer.

To top it all off, the Government’s fiscal 2010…

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David McClure, Associate Administrator at GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, announced at the AFFIRM event on April 13^th that the third party assessment organizations (3PAOs) will be announced in May 2012.

This is a major step for FedRAMP, which will start the process for cloud service providers to obtain the provisional authorizations. These 3PAOs are an important part of the FedRAMP process, because they will be validating the cyber security control requirements for service providers. While the review is being handled mainly by DHS and GSA, the entire Joint Authorization Board (JAB) will have the final say on who will be a 3PAO. The JAB consists of the Chief Information Officers from GSA, DHS, and DOD. Department of Homeland Security Chief Information Officer, Richard Spires, said that once the 3PAO’s are picked in May, he expects the program to take-off in June of this year.

While FedRAMP will mandate the minimum level of security requirements, Casey…

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Mobile Device Management is a growing solution in both the public and private sector. The United States Chief Information Officer Steven Van Roekel launched an initiative in January to increase the adoption rate of Mobile Technologies and by the end of March a comprehensive federal mobile technologies strategy should be released. The January initiative allowed for an interactive internet-based “National Dialogue on the Federal Mobility Strategy.” This allowed for public and private sector personnel to submit comments on the future on mobile technology in the government. Some of the core objectives listed in the draft of the federal strategy were:

• Build mobile technologies and services for reuse and share common services among agencies and public developers

• Efficiently manage mobile and wireless acquisition, inventory, and expenses

• Create a government-wide foundation to provide mobility services and functionality needed in all agencies

• Foster collaboration among government…

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For any contractor interested in selling its’ products on a GSA Schedule, it is pertinent that you become familiar with, as well as compliant with the Trade Agreement Act (TAA). The TAA outlines where products the government purchases can be manufactured. As GSA Schedule solicitations contain TAA provisions, when applying for a GSA Schedule, your product’s Country of Origin (COO) must be included in the proposal, compliant with the TAA, and accurate.

Determining a product’s COO can be complicated. While products that are wholly made in one country are simple to designate a COO for, most products contain numerous parts made in various countries. In these cases, the product’s COO is classified by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.225-5 as “the country in which the product has been substantially transformed into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from that of the articles from which it was transformed”. Once a product’s COO has been…

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The pricing portion of a GSA Schedule is the most complex part of the contract. Since the US federal Government is the world’s largest volume buyer in the world, they expect to receive the lowest price possible for products and services. Therefore, every contract established with the GSA must include a price-reduction clause. This requires companies to give the government equal or better than their best customer price.

Just recently, Oracle Corp., the world’s second- biggest software maker agreed to pay $199.5 million plus interest to settle allegations that the companies failed to provide a price that it was giving another customer. The accord resolves a lawsuit claiming Oracle induced the GSA to buy $1.08 billion in software from 1998 to 2006 by providing inaccurate and incomplete information to GSA.

This amount is the largest obtained by GSA under the False Claims Act, a Federal law that allows citizens with knowledge of fraud (aka whistleblowers) by the United States…

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