These days it seems everyone has an opinion on what the Government could do better in order to avoid the disastrous procurement process that ends up costing an agency $10,000 just to acquire a simple hammer. Well now, the Federal Government is ready to listen to what you have to say. The National Academy of the Public Administration and the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council in conjunction with the General Services Administration have rolled out the “Better Buy Project” to find ways to increase efficiency and openness in the procurement process by asking the public for solutions. Better Buy gives you the chance to voice your opinion and suggest ideas that could improve the procurement and acquisition process. The program is asking for suggestions for 3 phases of the acquisition lifecycle: Market Research and Requirements Definition Pre-Solicitation Phase Solicitation Phase.

To say that life at a consultancy is ruled by one best practice after another is no understatement. One best practice, in particular, isn’t so much a technique as it is a mantra that guides everyone on our schedule acquisition team: Don’t overlook the smallest detail. An area where this is particularly true is your Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) account and your D-U-N-S Number. For those not in the know, this is a standard business establishment identifier code assigned by Dun & Bradstreet for any organization seeking to do business with the Federal Government. Key components of your GSA proposal are built specifically from the information that this account contains. As such, it is important you perform a few due diligence steps at the start of the GSA process. Here are a few items you should keep in mind: Central Contractor Registration (CCR)

One large source of confusion for GSA contractors can be determining the Country of Origin for offered products. Many people think all GSA awarded items must be made in the USA, but this is not the case. Instead, all products offered on a GSA schedule must be produced in a country that is compliant with the US Trade Agreements Act (TAA). Many countries are TAA-compliant, but one major manufacturing course is not – you probably guessed it, CHINA. This means GSA cannot award any items that are manufactured in China onto your GSA contract. Some contractors have trouble determining the exact Country of Origin, as different components come from different countries or different manufacturing processes are performed in different countries. In cases like this, merchandise originates from the country where it has been substantially transformed into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from that of the article or articles from which it was transformed. For this language, please see the Federal Acquisition Regulations 52.225-5 for more detail: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/05-10r/html/52_223_226.html#wp1169151

On November 2nd, the U.S. General Services Administration in coordination with the Federal Chief Information Officers Council released comprehensive requirements for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, for public comment. This is a huge milestone in the governmentwide adoption of cloud computing services. The security authorizations and continuous monitoring of cloud systems that FedRAMP will provide can be used by agencies to streamline their security process while still providing highly effective security services. FedRamp allows agencies to make use of commonly accepted risk assessment and cyber security evaluation of cloud services. Joint authorizations of cloud providers will result in a common security risk model that can be leveraged across the federal government, ensuring a consistent baseline for cloud-based technologies.

One of the most common challenges new contractors face after receiving a GSA Schedule contract is where to find new business. Often times a contractor is unsure of what agencies to market to and who is interested in their services or products. Not only can new contractors sell their products through GSA Schedules to other agencies, but they can also sell directly toGSA. In FY2010, GSA reported $16,978,003,265 dollars spent from 910,020 transactions. That’s a lot of opportunity! For FY2011, the General Services Administration has recently updated its website to include some very useful bid and opportunity listings, titled “Forecast of Contracting Opportunities.” This is a complete forecast of opportunities that GSA suspects it will need for the upcoming fiscal year (October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011), as well as any known opportunities for the following fiscal years. The opportunities you will find on this forecast are all at or above the $25,000 threshold and are anticipated awards to both large and small businesses. It is a downloadable file that you can export into Microsoft Excel. From there, you can search and filter by date of opportunity, by North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code, by location, etc. The descriptions of the opportunities include the primary NAICS code, the state where the opportunity is located, what type of product or service GSA is searching for, the award status, a procurement classification code, what type of qualifications are required, what type of contract it is, an estimated contract amount (min and max), the contracting officer in charge of the procurement, the contracting officer’s contact information, and the incumbent if there is one.

One of the most common questions we get on a day to day basis has to be: "how soon will we have our Schedule in place?" The party line from GSA is that it takes a Contracting Officer, on average, 120 days to review, clarify, negotiate, and award a GSA contract. However, for many GSA Schedules and contractors, this is not always the case. What distinguishes a proposal that undergoes an "extended" review versus one that follows the traditional timeframe? It has everything to do with submitting a proposal that is fully responsive to a schedule solicitation, right? ....Well, not necessarily.