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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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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You may know that GSA has recently converted to using the E-Mod and E-Offer system for virtually all contract modifications and submissions. The one action that cannot be done through the eMod system is the contract extension, which occurs every five years. But not for long! GSA recently announced that they will begin using eMod for Extensions.

The new Extension process, called Options Process Ensuring iNtegrity (OPEN), is planned to launch this fall. Details are limited at this time, but GSA promises that OPEN will reduce the number of steps needed to submit and process an Extension. The Notification of Intent, sent by GSA to contractors prior to the Extension, will also be automated moving forward. This should greatly reduce any room for error where contractors are not notified regarding the Extension and then have to scramble to get their submission together. 

One important change is that GSA will no longer require a new Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation for Extensions.…

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