U.S. General Services Administration
Innovative Acquisition Strategy Provides CBP with State of the Art Surveillance Equipment
Federal Acquisition might not sound exciting, but at the General Services Administration (GSA), it definitely can be. For example, the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) supports the needs of federal, state and local governments as well as the military in acquiring products and servicesfor everything from surgical equipment to helicopters. Not only does FAS respond to the immediate needs of our customers, they also create strategic partnerships to meet their long term acquisition goals. And when the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reached out to GSA for new state of the art surveillance equipment, that’s just what they were looking for; a long term strategic acquisition partner to help them plan for the future.
Customs and Border Protection contacted GSA’s Office of Customer and Stakeholder Engagement (CASE) for help acquiring surveillance equipment to support its mission to safeguard America’s borders. CASE’s role at GSA is to act as a liaison between industry partners, FAS acquisition centers and the customer to become a strategic partner and provide innovative, best value solutions. After meeting with CBP, the newly formed team created an Innovative Acquisition Strategy using GSA Schedules. Schedules are also known as government contracts that provide products and services grouped into categories offering volume discount pricing.
Through the use of Schedule 84 for Security, Fire and Law Enforcement and Schedule 70 for Information Technology, the beginning of a long term strategic partnership was born. Not only was CASE able to address CBP’s current needs, they also created a structure for developing products and services to meet their continuously evolving future requirements. To date, the project provides the following:
- Advanced Surveillance Equipment
- State of the Art mobile equipment
- High Definition Cameras
- Infrared cameras that can detect movement from miles away
- HD Zoom technology combined with facial recognition
- A network that provides shared data in real time from vehicle to vehicle and with headquarters
This is just one of many examples of GSA’s mission to deliver value and savings in real estate, acquisition, technology, and other mission-support services across government. To learn more about GSA’s continued efforts to modernize and simplify the buying and selling experience for customers, suppliers, and acquisition professionals visit GSA’s Federal Marketplace Strategy.