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Tag: Federal Acquisition Service

GSA is about to get really big

The head of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service told employees Thursday that the agency will manage about $400 billion in procurement under an expansion set to quadruple the size of GSA. (Next GOV/FCW March 20, 2025)

A new executive order shifts some agencies’ contracting work to GSA, which already plays a key role in government procurement. President Trump reportedly signed the order Thursday, though the text remains unavailable, and the White House has not commented. (ibid)

“We will ingest all domestic and commercial goods and services into GSA. While we won’t handle all $900 billion, we will manage about $400 billion, effectively quadrupling our size,” said Josh Gruenbaum, head of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. (ibid)

GSA has already piloted onboarding two to three agencies to evaluate centralized procurement. The Office of Management and Budget is currently onboarding, along with the Office of Personnel Management, which recently laid off its entire procurement team. (ibid)

“We now have a mobilized operational process to absorb procurement across the government,” Gruenbaum said. GSA plans to automate procurement and integrate talent from the agencies it will serve. (ibid)

GSA operates the schedules program, allowing agencies to buy various services and goods, and oversees several major governmentwide contract vehicles. It also serves as the government’s landlord and develops procurement strategies such as category management and best-in-class contracts.(ibid)

GSA’s acting leader, Stephen Ehikian, highlighted potential cost savings by purchasing as “one buyer on behalf of the government.”(ibid)

As GSA expands procurement operations, it continues downsizing its workforce, eliminating entire offices. Last week, the agency cut the Technology Transformation Services’ talent division and market development and partnerships division while offering Voluntary Early Retirement and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments. So far, contracting officers remain largely unaffected.(ibid)

Employees who remain will utilize a new AI bot, recently demoed. GSA announced plans to offer the tool to other federal agencies. Ehikian has prioritized AI to reduce headcount, tasking some employees with identifying how AI can take over their work. (ibid)

The AI tool includes a chat function and an API, with plans for continuous improvements based on staff feedback. Ehikian described this as part of the agency’s “build back phase” after its “slimming down phase,” emphasizing efficiency. A meeting slide deck outlined goals such as reducing IT systems per job, centralizing data, optimizing cloud spending, and investing in shared services. (ibid)

Next week, GSA will unveil a major FedRAMP program overhaul, according to Nextgov/FCW. (ibid)

GSA also continues efforts to shrink the federal real estate footprint. Ehikian reported that the agency canceled nearly 700 leases but acknowledged instances where it reinstated leases after receiving feedback from senators and stakeholders. (ibid)

Trying to make sense of all of the new changes at GSA, give us a call.

A Quick Dive into GSA’s Game-Changing Proposed Economic Price Adjustment Clause

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) recently proposed to revise the General Services Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) Federal Supply Schedule Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) clauses. Issued on November 16, 2023, the rule aims to align with commercial standards and practices by eliminating specific EPA requirements and introducing a standardized clause: 552.238-118, Economic Price Adjustment, Federal Supply Schedule Contracts. (Federal News Network, January 12, 2024)

This new clause mirrors the principles outlined in GSA Acquisition Letter MV-22-02 from March 2022, which temporarily suspended certain procedural limits within FSS clauses. This move provided contractors with increased flexibility in processing EPAs, responding more effectively to shifts in the commercial market. The proposed rule extends this market-driven flexibility into the GSAR. (ibid)

The EPA proposed rule is defined as the “agreed-upon procedure” for adjusting pricing throughout a contract period.” The proposed clause empowers contracting officers and contractors to negotiate the mechanism, timing, and frequency of price adjustments. This streamlined, flexible approach is poised to enhance responsiveness to market changes. (ibid)

When contract prices are based on commercial catalog pricing, adjustments can align with changes in the catalog price. Similarly, if an index determines adjustments, changes in the index can dictate price adjustments. These mechanisms, being part of the contract, underscore the proposal’s pragmatic approach. (ibid)

For the success of this flexible EPA, implementation across the FSS program is crucial. Proper training for the acquisition workforce, focusing on pricing context and accurate data usage, is paramount. The proposed rule’s success depends on aligning the FSS program with the commercial market, necessitating revisions to current policies such as Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Policy and Procedure (PAP) 2021-05. (ibid)

The PAP, as it stands, contains contradictory guidance inconsistent with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, escalating data submission burdens on FSS contractors. To streamline the EPA process effectively, reforming, revising, and reissuing the PAP in accordance with legal and operational goals is a logical starting point. (ibid)

Beyond reducing regulatory burdens, success hinges on comprehensive training, clear guidance, and accountability. Stakeholders, including coalition members, stand ready to assist the agency in operationalizing the rule successfully. (ibid)

Questions concerning price adjustments to your current contract? Give us a call.

Will Ascend make it easier to buy cloud services?

GSA recently released a draft statement of work as part of their latest effort to give agencies an easier way to buy cloud services. They are calling it Ascend.

At a recent ACT-IAC sponsored conference, Sonny Hashmi, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service within GSA, said “I don’t want to make the presumption that we’ve figured it out. The process to get to an endpoint on Ascend is going to require a lot of dialogue, and I don’t want us to move forward without it. It goes back to how we were talking about user-centric design. There’s got to be a user need, and in this case, it’s got to be an agency need that Ascend will address. That will dictate what the vehicle looks like, how it’s going to be designed because, without it, it is not going to be successful.”

“At this point, we’re being very deliberate about making sure that there is an actual need on the other side of this. Adoption is going to happen not just because it’s going to be a forcing function, but because there’s actually a need that we’re solving. If we’re not, if it turns out that we’re behind and agencies don’t have a need, then I would rather actually not do this. While we’re excited about this program, ultimately, its job is to solve a problem and help agencies to deliver on their mission. If there’s a better way or different way to solve the problems that we are facing, we’re happy to change tactics on it.”

The draft statement of work for Ascend creates three separate buckets of vendors to deliver infrastructure – platform-as-a-service, software-as-a-service, and cloud professional services.

The draft solicitation states, “the Ascend BPA is part of GSA’s cloud marketplace vision of empowering agencies to develop and implement enterprise-level cloud acquisition strategies through a modernized and simplified approach to meet their IT and cybersecurity requirements. The BPA will emphasize cloud smart/security smart objectives and establish minimum baseline requirements for the acquisition, business operations reporting, and technology capabilities provided by commercial cloud service providers (CSPs) and cloud-focused labor service providers that are not currently accessible under other GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) or governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs). The Ascend BPA will focus on enabling support for both vertical (e.g., IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and horizontal capabilities across the ecosystem and will provide more effective system integration and managed support services for the delivery of flexible, diverse, and secure cloud solutions.”

Hashmi said, “we’re hoping this will be one mechanism or the primary and most usable mechanism for agencies to think about when they’re thinking about modernizing their digital stacks.” Hashmi feels Ascend will allow agencies to buy “by the drink”. This gives GSA the ability to on-ramp new cloud service providers as they become available. It also gives contract holders the opportunity to bring innovation to the federal sector as required and needed.

Hashimi feels this gives agencies greater flexibility. Hashmi said, “the other thing for me is creating a marketplace that is competitive. It can’t just be a small number of highly capable cloud companies. If you don’t create continuous opportunities for new companies to join the marketplace, then we have failed because this market is changing very rapidly.” From past experience, GSA found agencies didn’t want to just contract for cloud services, but a full range of support from the cloud itself along with integration services and ongoing support.

The first versions of Ascend came under scrutiny by industry associations. However, Hashmi said these concerns and other questions concerning the BPA are exactly why GSA put out a draft statement of work. The draft statement of work allows for feedback from agencies, associations, and anyone critical to Ascend’s success.

Are you interested in Ascend and what your company can offer on this procurement vehicle? Give us a call.

Home » Federal Acquisition Service

GSA is about to make Cloud purchases a whole lot easier

GSA is about to reveal a plan for a governmentwide marketplace for cloud solutions. This new marketplace will not only make it convenient, it will also set up a one-stop-shop for agencies to purchase commercial Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, and Platform as a Service, offerings. (FedTech October 7, 2021)

On a recent webinar, Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category in the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said, “We’re looking at how we put together a cloud marketplace that then becomes a buying platform for agencies. We want to put together not just a framework, but a market contractual vehicle that will allow our agencies to buy these core cloud services that we’re seeing them need more and more.” (ibid)

The GSA marketplace will provide agencies with professional IT services as well as post-award contract management tools. It would also set the requirements to verify cloud services meet the baseline security and adherence to guidance from the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). (ibid)

GSA wants to streamline the entire cloud procurement process for agencies. According to Laura Stanton, “GSA uses the cloud and cloud-related IT professional services special item number (SIN) 518210C as a vehicle for multiple-award procurements. The contract type can be used to acquire cloud computing services, as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.” Stanton said that GSA is “hearing that agencies have to go to multiple places to buy cloud. We decided it was time to take the next step.” (ibid)

An RFI is expected early in the new fiscal year, which began October 1, 2021. (ibid)

Questions concerning the upcoming RFI? Give us a call.

GSA has some big changes coming

Over the last few years, the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) has focused on improving customer and employee experiences. FAS is building on that foundation with the following four new initiatives:

  1. Modernize and consolidate the schedule contracts
  2. Develop commercial platforms under Section 876
  3. Develop a contract acquisition lifecycle management system
  4. Move toward catalog management for all products and services (Federal News Network July 1, 2021)

According to Sonny Hashmi, FAS Commissioner, the goal is to reduce friction for agency customers and contractors selling their products and services. (ibid)

At a recent Government Procurement Conference Hashami said, “if you look at the transactions that are going through, the majority are in the service marketplaces, whether it’s in IT or non-IT services. Then we have a products catalog marketplace and those experiences are slightly different how you buy a product is slightly different than how you engage with a vendor on services. We have to kind of provide that distinction. When it comes to products, we’re seeing customers increasingly wanting to see a self-service type, model, more of an e-commerce model. So that begs the question of what’s the future of GSA Advantage? How do we scale it? How do we make it more powerful? Then, of course, there’s a new policy frameworks coming our way from Section 889, supply chain risk management, cybersecurity and cybersecurity maturity model certification (CMMC) compliance. We have to incorporate all of those as part of our thinking as well.” Hashmi noted that the effort to consolidate is 90% complete. (ibid)

The deputy commissioner at FAS, Tom Howder, expects GSA to make an award near the end of fiscal 2021 to develop the catalog management system. The contractor awarded will help manage data and catalog listings. The goal is to “make it easier for contractors to get on GSA contracts” according to Howder. (ibid)

Hashmi noted the focus on the customer is guiding its request for information and the possibility of setting up a new cloud services blanket purchase agreement. He noted that FAS is aware that the more GWACs and multiple award contracts they create, such the OASIS replacement including POLARIS, ASTRO and 8(a)STARS III, the more confusing it may become. (ibid)

Hashmi said, “give us some time. We don’t want to break what works. Industry should not worry that we’re going to take opportunity away from them. If you’re a company that’s been very successful on OASIS, engage in the OASIS replacement conversation, make sure that you are also going to be very successful on the new contract. But if you’re a company that was left out of OASIS, guess what, you now have an opportunity to also be successful in the new contract vehicle. That’s where I’m looking at it. Now we want to make sure that we talk constantly with our customers and our suppliers. So we can wait until this thing gets released and then say, ‘Well, this is not going to work for us.’ Or you can engage with us now to make sure we build something that’s going to actually work for you. We’re a couple of years away from this being fully figured out and issued. That’s plenty of time for us to rethink how we are going to do competition. Engage with us, give us some ideas, and then let’s make it so that it’s accessible for you.” (ibid)

Questions about the Federal Marketplace Strategy or how you can provide input? Give us a call.