U.S. General Services Administration
FAS Works to Enhance Competition
Post filed in: Acquisition
Have you heard? The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) is making exciting progress through the Federal Marketplace Strategy towards implementing new authorities and flexibilities that enhance competition in acquisition. This summer, FAS begins implementing the new Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act Section 876 authority. This authority allows for an acquisition vehicle strategy that creates robust competition at the order level rather than evaluating prices at the contract level for services acquired on an hourly rate basis. FAS is seeking input to determine when use of this authority represents the best acquisition strategy for our contract vehicles. Implementation of this new flexibility will make it easier for:
- Customers to realize better value and savings;
- The FAS acquisition workforce to focus on helping customers achieve robust competition at the order level; and
- Suppliers to obtain FAS acquisition vehicle contracts.
The Federal Systems Integration and Management Center’s (FEDSIM’s) ASTRO contract vehicle will be the first FAS acquisition to utilize this authority. ASTRO will be an assisted acquisition on behalf of the Department of Defense, and does not have a direct order component like other General Services Administration (GSA) Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and Multi-Agency Contracts (MACs). This makes it a suitable acquisition for first use of this authority. Additional FAS acquisitions will be considered for use of the Section 876 authority in the future.
We know GSA’s stakeholders are eager to see how this authority will be rolled out across the Federal Supply Schedules, and we want your input to identify when implementation of this authority would represent the best acquisition strategy. GSA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) in the Federal Register on 8/19/2020 to get the broadest possible feedback in a fully open and transparent manner. Please review the ANPR and submit your comments.
Let’s work together to take GSA’s acquisition vehicles to the next level, with best value solutions that maximize competition and innovation in the federal marketplace.