GSA Unpriced Schedules – A Welcome Change Is Coming

December 9, 2020 by Leave a comment

By Jeff Ellinport, Division Counsel

The General Services Administration (GSA) might soon make a shift in federal procurement from contract-level pricing to order-level competition. That’s good for vendors because it could reduce the time it takes to get products on contract.

The Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Section 876 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (Pub. L. 115-232) was issued by GSA on August 19. It allows GSA to implement “unpriced schedules.” On Oct. 20, GSA kicked off the first of several industry “listening sessions” on how to best implement this authority.

Currently, before a GSA Schedule contract is awarded or new items added to an existing one, GSA contracting officers determine fair and reasonable prices of supplies or services (fixed price or hourly). Negotiation follows after offerors submit various data, information and documentation to support their pricing.

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Tracking government “openness” changes in contracting

January 5, 2018 by 1 Comment

By Jenni Taylor, manager, government programs and contracts

Federal contracting officers are moving towards more openness in procurement, which is a step forward in the cumbersome federal procurement process, according to Michael Fischetti, executive director of the National Contract Management Association.

Fischetti’s remarks came during a panel discussion at our recent Government IT Sales Summit, titled “Without a Contract, There Is No Deal: Updates on Contracts and Procurement.”

Contracting problems occur in government because contract professionals “are at the end of a long chain” of requirements definitions, budget analysis, time, coordination and approvals that Fischetti says often have nothing to do with requirements themselves. Despite that long process, Fischetti added that the federal procurement generally works free of political intervention.

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