Program history
About Section 846
Responding to Section 846 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, Procurement Through Commercial e-Commerce Portals, GSA established a program to get commercial products through commercial e-commerce portals.
GSA implemented the program in multiple phases, with reports delivered to Congress after each phase:
Requirements outlined by legislation
- The contract must be competitive with multiple portal providers
- GSA must accept portal provider commercial terms and conditions to the maximum extent practicable
- All existing procurement rules and regulations apply
- Orders must not exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, or SAT
- Platforms must be widely used in the private sector and excludes portals managed by government
GSA launched the Commercial Platforms program to GSA SmartPay Purchase Card holders in August 2020, providing access to multiple online platforms for purchases of routine, commercial products.
In March 2024, the Commercial Platforms program launched its next generation contract with an expanded award pool of eight platforms.
The program is open to GPC holders from participating agencies.
U.S. General Services Administration
