GSA Does That!? - Episode 2.16 - TDR Episode Release Date - 10/29/24 Guests * Greg Rollins - QV - Deputy Assistant Commissioner - FAS Office of Policy and Compliance 00;00;00;00 - 00;00;33;15 Rob Trubia Well, welcome back to another episode of GSA Does That!? the podcast that brings you the stories behind the federal agency delivering effective and efficient government. I'm your host, Rob Trubia . And today I'll be joined by Greg Rollins, program manager for GSA's Transactional Data Reporting program. We'll be diving deep into how TDR is shaping the way GSA uses data to enhance business intelligence for government and its industry partners. 00;00;33;17 - 00;00;59;18 Rob Trubia Data touches every part of our lives and GSA is leveraging it to help companies stay competitive, foster greater small business participation, and improve how GSA does business. So stick around as we explore transactional data reporting and how it benefits GSA and our business partners. Well, hello, Greg, thanks for joining us on GSA Does That!? I really do sincerely appreciate you taking the time today to have a discussion about TDR. 00;00;59;25 - 00;01;05;28 Rob Trubia But before we do, would you share a little bit about yourself and your particular role at GSA and with TDR? 00;01;06;00 - 00;01;20;06 Greg Rollins Sure. Rob. My name is Greg Rollins. I'm the deputy assistant commissioner in the FAS Office of Policy and Compliance. I am also the FAS program manager for the the transactional Data reporting program. Glad to be here. 00;01;20;10 - 00;01;22;06 Rob Trubia So, Greg, how's your whole career been in FAS? 00;01;22;07 - 00;01;54;11 Greg Rollins Actually, I predate FAS here at GSA. I started back in the Federal Supply Service. As a contracting officer working in the Multiple Award Schedule program. You know, I've worked around various parts of GSA, in the general supplies and what is now the General Supplies and Services portfolio, as well as in the information technology category, where, you know, I did a stint as the deputy, and then schedule 70, before moving over here to the Office of Policy and Compliance. 00;01;54;13 - 00;02;02;02 Rob Trubia Well, great. Thanks again for being here. We really do appreciate it. All right, Greg, take it easy on me explain transactional data reporting to a fifth grader. 00;02;02;03 - 00;02;26;19 Greg Rollins Now. Thank you for the question. So really, transactional data at its core enables the government to understand, you know, what is being bought and sold on some of the government's largest procurement vehicles. And it allows us to understand that at a more granular level than we've traditionally been able to understand. Think of of TDR like a detailed receipt versus, a rolled up invoice. 00;02;26;21 - 00;02;37;23 Greg Rollins So we know everything that's being sold, all of the, all of the products and, and quantity and other, other units of measure, around that, that product. 00;02;37;23 - 00;02;40;24 Rob Trubia When did you start with TDR? How long has this been going on now? 00;02;40;24 - 00;03;04;25 Greg Rollins So the transactional data reporting program has been around for, a number of years. We date back into into the late teens. You know, that being said, you know, we've seen a lot of growth in the program over the last year. GSA has recently opened up the program to additional participants, as of, last August, August of 2024. 00;03;04;25 - 00;03;18;26 Greg Rollins And, yeah, we're very excited to, open up that aperture to allow more vendors to opt into this optional program, which we feel has tremendous value for both industry and for the government. 00;03;18;26 - 00;03;32;04 Rob Trubia So you explained it as a detailed receipt. I like that that's helpful to me. I can understand that. So with this detailed receipt, with all of this data, with all of this numbers, how does it impact GSA's overall mission and the procurement process? How do you use the data? 00;03;32;05 - 00;03;53;08 Greg Rollins So I think many of us are aware that, you know, data is becoming a larger and larger part of decision making, you know, both in government and in the in and in the private sector. And, frankly, in most of our personal lives, by being able to understand, you know, at a line item level, what's being bought and sold. 00;03;53;08 - 00;04;25;15 Greg Rollins So that's talking about, you know, what's the item, what's the unit of measure, who manufactures that, what's the manufacturer part number information about the quantity sold, the price paid per unit. And recently we started collecting data around order date, shipt date, zip code that a product is shipped to. That data allows us to leverage some very powerful, use cases, to, to help, positively affect the procurement process. 00;04;25;15 - 00;04;46;09 Greg Rollins You know, there certainly are. And there's a blog up on, GSA.gov, where we talk about several of these called line item pricing data, enhances market strategies and small business success. But, you know that in that blog we talk about how, this data has allowed us to help small business market their products and services. 00;04;46;09 - 00;05;20;21 Greg Rollins So there's a great use case around our second generation IT, BPA, where the category management team was able to use transactional data to look at what was being bought and sold within that vehicle, and realized that small business was not apart, not as significant a part of the sales on that vehicle as it should be. And delving a little deeper, that allowed that team to understand that small businesses weren't participating because they weren't given letters of supply from original equipment manufacturers, and that led the program team to then engage with those original equipment manufacturers. 00;05;20;24 - 00;05;42;09 Greg Rollins And, you know, be able to to get more small businesses authorized to sell those products. And it's a it's a great success story where we've been able to, to to help drive small business success. We've been able to, to, to continue to work around supply chain risk management when we understand what's being bought and sold at the line item level. 00;05;42;11 - 00;06;08;18 Greg Rollins When GSA is informed or, you know, receives information that there are supply chain risks on a given product, you know, we know where that product has been been sold. And that information we were actually historically lacking, that allows us to then reach out to a customer agency and let them know that there is a product potentially in, in their infrastructure, that could present, a security risk and let them remediate that. 00;06;08;23 - 00;06;33;08 Greg Rollins Additionally, and I think, you know, from an industry perspective, you know, one of the most powerful use cases we've been able to to, to help power with transactional data is, frankly, sharing this information back with our industry partners. But we are now publishing our transactional data regularly, you know, within the GSA infrastructure that our industry partners can can access currently on the Vendor Support Center. 00;06;33;08 - 00;06;56;16 Greg Rollins But, you know, that data allows industry to actually understand what's being bought and sold. And we found that the majority of sales, you know, on our contract vehicles are from, a very small number of line items. So that business intelligence allows industry to understand that and focus on the items with the highest potential for sales. 00;06;56;18 - 00;07;05;12 Greg Rollins As opposed to devoting time to putting items on catalog or maintaining items on catalog, which, you know, see very limited sales volume. 00;07;05;12 - 00;07;23;07 Rob Trubia So you're saying that the vendors out there can really see at a very granular level, what the government is purchasing, how much they're purchasing, what exactly they're purchasing. So then they can strategize so they can be more competitive, more competitive than ever, really, because they've got this data. So the data you say is helping them just as much as it's helping you. 00;07;23;09 - 00;07;55;01 Greg Rollins We certainly, we certainly hope so. And we've heard that feedback from our industry partners. And we recognize, right, that they're, you know, no one everyone lives in a world of just in time delivery. Today, no one has large warehouses of product that's sitting anywhere. Or when when they do, it's very limited. Right? So being able to understand what's being sold and in the future is we, hope to share back, you know, some of the new data fields that we're collecting, around, like I shared earlier, zip code shipped to. 00;07;55;07 - 00;08;07;18 Greg Rollins We hope that industry is able to leverage that data and understand the government's purchasing and be able to position themselves to meet those needs. You know, in a, in a in an era of just in time delivery. 00;08;07;21 - 00;08;25;25 Rob Trubia Help me understand a little bit more about the supply chain and how it helps the supply chain, because obviously we went through some serious challenges with supply chain through COVID and the years following COVID. TDR, can it help something like that that happens in the future? How can TDR help supply chain stay active so the government's not Flatfooted? 00;08;25;27 - 00;08;55;05 Greg Rollins Yeah, I think this data is leveraged both by the government and by industry, from the industry perspective, to help anticipate what the government's needs are based on historical spend. You know, from a government perspective, this data you know, powers, some very, large tools that have been deployed recently, like the procurement copilot, which is alignment with, the Office of Management and Budgets, you know, high def contracting initiative. 00;08;55;11 - 00;09;16;28 Greg Rollins So that data puts this information in the hands of contracting officers, government wide, so they can understand how other agencies are buying, and help, help align that spend, to help, you know, smooth some of those, hiccups in the supply chain route that you, that you indicate may have been historical challenges. There's no, there's no magic bullet here. 00;09;16;28 - 00;09;23;11 Greg Rollins But, you know, we're firm believers. That data helps drive better decision making, and TDR helps provide that data. 00;09;23;11 - 00;09;26;28 Rob Trubia Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's TDR mandatory for for all vendors. 00;09;26;29 - 00;10;05;14 Greg Rollins TDR is not mandatory. In fact, it is it is an optional program. And I'm glad you asked that question. As I mentioned, we recently expanded the scope of the program. And, you know, we've seen a good number of industry partners begin to, to, to opt in to, to TDR, which is, which is great news because as more vendors opt in to the program, it helps create this virtuous cycle where we gather more information, we gather more data, which helps, you know, empower the government with, you know, better business intelligence and allows us to share that business intelligence back with our industry partners. 00;10;05;14 - 00;10;27;07 Greg Rollins So the more data we get, the more powerful it becomes. You know, that being said, given that it's an optional program, we certainly hope that new entrants into the program as well as existing entrants who are newly able to participate in TDR, you know, really give this, program a good look and see if this makes business sense for them. 00;10;27;09 - 00;11;03;20 Greg Rollins Based on the feedback we've received directly from industry, TDR saves the average, you know, contractor 22 hours per contract per year versus the legacy reporting models. You know, that data and and those savings, you know, we certainly hope, you know, entices folks to take a look at this program. And see whether it makes business sense for them, because, as I said, getting new entrants into this program helps create, a cycle where we, we, we get more data and are able to help both industry and government be more successful based on that business intelligence. 00;11;03;27 - 00;11;19;11 Rob Trubia Well, Greg, help me understand, for those listening that are in industry, sounds like collecting data takes time. Filling out more paperwork, maybe filling out more fields on the computer before they they do business. But you're saying it actually ends up saving time. Help us understand a little bit more. 00;11;19;13 - 00;12;01;08 Greg Rollins Yeah. So this really is informed directly by our industry partners in our, you know, part of the regulatory regulatory process is information collections. And we've heard directly from industry that this saves them time versus the legacy commercial sales practices reporting model. So you know, I think in the end, you know, when you talk about the differences, you know, there are, you know, significant differences in terms of monitoring, you know, given the, other, the, the legacy model versus TDR in terms of tracking commercial sales practices, price reduction within the TDR program, we are asking for, you know, 16 elements reported monthly. 00;12;01;14 - 00;12;16;29 Greg Rollins But I think in most in many vendors commercial lives, data is becoming a trend. And I think complying with some of those data requirements, you know, hopefully is significantly easier. Than, you know, some of the legacy, some of the legacy model. 00;12;17;02 - 00;12;34;21 Rob Trubia The ones that are choosing to opt into TDR. What do you hear? Why are they doing that? Why are they willing to try it? And go through maybe a little bit of the, the learning curve to get through their first transactional data reporting? Sounds like once they do it, they're glad they did. But what's the benefit to them? 00;12;34;27 - 00;12;37;12 Rob Trubia What do they see as a benefit to just get on board? 00;12;37;15 - 00;13;01;02 Greg Rollins Yeah, I mean, I really think it is exactly what we've been talking about in terms of, you know, those savings, you know, it it is, you know, overall a reduced level of effort versus the, the legacy reporting models. And I think, you know, participation in TDR aligns very strongly with current commercial practice. So industry partners are used to providing data. 00;13;01;02 - 00;13;28;17 Greg Rollins They have this data more readily available. You know, we have multiple ways for vendors to report this data to the government. You know, our while there is, within our sales reporting portal, we do have a form entry, as well as an Excel upload methodology that, you know, makes it easier on vendors who may be dealing with, you know, very high volume transactions, and toolsets that are largely commercially available. 00;13;28;20 - 00;13;43;06 Greg Rollins And, you know, vendors are familiar with, so, you know, those are those are our primary submission methods. And, you know, we feel that those, align with commercial practice and make it easy to participate in the program. 00;13;43;08 - 00;13;50;25 Rob Trubia It's not mandatory to participate in TDR. Is it going to become mandatory at some point, or is that really not how it's evolving? 00;13;50;28 - 00;14;13;28 Greg Rollins You know, at this point, GSA is focused on continued maturation of the program. You know, as we as we said at the start, this program has been around for a number of years. GSA has put a very strong amount of focus within the last two years around, you know, both data quality and data use, both of which contribute to the maturity of the program. 00;14;14;04 - 00;14;45;19 Greg Rollins You know, our industry partners have been getting familiar with, a more regular cadence of updates and information, you know, from their contract compliance analysts, from their contracting officers, and now getting automated notifications via our how we want the data reported. And you know, that focus on data quality, you know, contributes to us being able to make the data more usable, put it in the hands of both industry and our our contracting officers, and, you know, progressing the maturity of the program. 00;14;45;25 - 00;15;12;00 Greg Rollins So that really is the area that we continue to be focused on. As you know, maturation. And there's certainly, you know, areas of the program, that have different levels of maturity. And we acknowledge that, you know, while we've put a lot of focus, at present around, what we call non configurable products, there are a good deal of conversations around configurable products. 00;15;12;03 - 00;15;24;22 Greg Rollins And you know, other types of services, both, you know, service contract services as well as professional services. And, you know, GSA is actively engaging with our industry partners and listening. 00;15;24;24 - 00;15;33;09 Rob Trubia So regardless of whether or not it's mandatory or your opting in, you are seeing a real trend where more and more of industry is participating in TDR. 00;15;33;15 - 00;16;08;16 Greg Rollins Yeah, that certainly is the direction, things continue to trend. And I think we've received very positive feedback from industry. I regularly see TDR, you know, supported in the trade press, from our industry partners. You know, I think we recognized that data is the future, right? That is the direction that things are moving. And, you know, we continue to stay focused on maturing that portion of the program, that positions us towards, you know, where we need to be in the 21st century, versus where we may have, where where we may have begun in the 20th century. 00;16;08;21 - 00;16;17;01 Rob Trubia Greg, I'm curious about other other agencies or particularly what about the private sector? Are they collecting data like this so they can be more competitive and more efficient? 00;16;17;08 - 00;16;47;21 Greg Rollins Yeah. You know, based on the conversations that that we've had, you know, data is a part of doing business in the private sector. You know, we know folks, who participate with large e-commerce solutions are use to providing, you know, significant, significant volumes of data. You know, back to, through those e-commerce solutions. And, and, we feel that the, the ask that we have tried to articulate within TDR is is rather modest. 00;16;47;24 - 00;17;18;27 Greg Rollins And is looking to leverage data that exists elsewhere in the procurement program. So, certainly if you're an industry partner listening to this, whenever GSA contemplates looking at data fields, we're asking ourselves, does this exist somewhere else? Can we get this data somewhere? You know, rather than ask our industry partners for it. So that's certainly something you know, we are we are very conscientious about, you know, that being said, yeah, we feel that this is certainly in alignment with industry standard and industry best practice. 00;17;18;27 - 00;17;23;26 Greg Rollins You know, certainly an area that we continue to to look to mature and grow along with our industry partners. 00;17;23;26 - 00;17;44;00 Rob Trubia You know, in industry, if it's, you know, private sector price is very it's it's a highly regarded secret what things cost, what you're spending, what it costs to put something out on the market with this TDR reporting. If I understand this right, the competition can see the pricing from the others that they're competing against. Do I understand that correctly? 00;17;44;00 - 00;17;48;29 Rob Trubia And if I do, I know that's got to have been addressed by now. How is that helpful or is it not helpful? 00;17;49;01 - 00;18;13;04 Greg Rollins No. That's a great question, Rob. Thank you for asking it. When we share demand data back with our industry partners, we actually anonymize who that data is originating from to protect you know, exactly the concern that that that you're highlighting. So, you know, again, for anyone who's listening on the industry side, when we share that data back, we're not sharing that that data comes from you as an individual. 00;18;13;07 - 00;18;26;19 Greg Rollins It is, it is, anonymized, to present just an overarching picture of, of government spend. So that certainly is something that we have been, very deliberate about based on the feedback from our industry partners. 00;18;26;21 - 00;18;45;13 Rob Trubia So you’re, saying it actually can make you more competitive because, you know, time is money. So if you have a real understanding, if you're in industry and you have a product, if you know that your price is competitive based on what others are selling it for to the government, you know you ought to be in that arena. But if you're not competitive, it can save you a lot of time. 00;18;45;17 - 00;18;46;26 Rob Trubia Is that is that what you're saying? 00;18;47;01 - 00;19;10;15 Greg Rollins Very much so. Yeah. That is, that is certainly one powerful use case from, from industry to understand where you sit. Vis-a-vis. The, the rest of the market and allows you to better inform your go to market decision for your company. As to whether, you know, this is, a market sector for any given product that you want to target and you want to you want to move towards. 00;19;10;18 - 00;19;24;11 Rob Trubia So if I want to do business with the government and I'm selling a product, I'll be able to go in there or I can now go in there and find out what does the government spend on my product? Can I get into this arena? Will I be competitive? That's where this sounds like to be most helpful to industry. 00;19;24;17 - 00;19;26;17 Rob Trubia Just from my lay perspective. 00;19;26;20 - 00;19;51;02 Greg Rollins Yeah, that certainly is. You know, the direction we continue to move and we're focused in terms of the demand data that we share with industry only on our highest demand items. You know, we found that, you know, several thousand high demand items, I think approximately 5000 are accounting for 75% of, of the sales. Right. So we're continuing to focus on that high volume data. 00;19;51;04 - 00;20;06;02 Greg Rollins You know, rather than try and boil the ocean, because we realize we hit the point of diminishing returns, when we when we talk about manipulating and sharing large data sets. So we're, we're trying to focus where the really there's the most bang for the buck for everyone. 00;20;06;05 - 00;20;09;06 Rob Trubia Does TDR have any impact on GSA advantage? 00;20;09;08 - 00;20;34;13 Greg Rollins Very good question. TDR, you know, doesn't directly impact, GSA Advantage! There are, certainly, you know, anything that's sold on Advantage is is going to be, you know, reported, you know, if you're a TDR participant, you know, that being said, the TDR information doesn't directly interface there currently, and nor do we have any intent for it to do so at this point. 00;20;34;15 - 00;20;47;00 Rob Trubia What industries are opting into TDR? Mostly right now, just so we can understand because people listening, they could be selling pencils, they could be selling jet engines and everything in between. Or it's services. Is it product service, is it both. 00;20;47;03 - 00;21;14;11 Greg Rollins Yeah. So the the area that we recently expanded to when we spoke about that earlier in the August timeframe was really focused on non configurable products. Right. So when we talk about non configurable it is you know products that don't have multiple options and accessories and permutations associated with them. Simple commodities office supplies is a great example that you gave. 00;21;14;11 - 00;21;41;00 Greg Rollins But there's you know, many others in terms of products that, you know, aren't are highly configurable. That being said, for our industry partners, we're regularly engaging with industry, in terms of, talking about how we opt in, I know there are several videos, that are posted on, GSA YouTube site already about, you know, how you determine if your contract is TDR eligible, you know, how do you opt in? 00;21;41;00 - 00;22;03;05 Greg Rollins You know, the time. You can do it on a on a rolling basis. It's open and available for folks, to to opt in today. You if you're eligible and on an eligible SIN again, we can talk you through and you can go to that, that YouTube channel, watch some of our videos around, TDR opt in and, you know, just walk through the process. 00;22;03;07 - 00;22;26;05 Greg Rollins But we'll show you exactly how you look at what SINS or TDR are eligible. And if you have that, it's as simple as submitting a modification, to, to opt into the program. And then, given the lag in reporting, we'll wait until your next quarter and then you'll finish up your regular, your historical reporting and, under, CSP and then moved to, moved to TDR as your point forward. 00;22;26;08 - 00;22;42;25 Rob Trubia You know, we've talked a lot about how this affects industry. How about your folks, Greg? How about the people that work under you? How does this affect on the contractors and those that are doing this, helping their job? Is it a little bit more laborious to collect all this data, or is it very automated and just makes things streamlined and simpler? 00;22;42;29 - 00;23;18;08 Greg Rollins Yeah. Thank you so much for the question, Rob. Our acquisition workforce is is very supportive of TDR. Based on the feedback we've received, it allows them to have a degree of transparency, that isn't otherwise present. And allows them to to truly understand that the items at the line item level that are, that are being bought and sold, and, you know, work towards, you know, better contract outcomes, you know, all that being said, you know, we've also worked to fold this data into many of the tools that our contracting officers use. 00;23;18;08 - 00;23;55;20 Greg Rollins Day in, day out. So this data is, is baked directly into the the tool sets that they're using. Some of our contracting officers may not even directly realize that they're interacting with TDR data, as it's, so, so melded into some of the tools that they're using, on, on a regular basis. So we're certainly working that, to integrate that, and, you know, continue to, to work to get training out and, and work with our acquisition workforce, to understand how best to understand this data and, and, you know, implement it within their, their acquisition processes. 00;23;55;22 - 00;23;59;29 Rob Trubia It sounds like a lot of momentum for TDR. What's the future look like for TDR? 00;23;59;29 - 00;24;34;27 Greg Rollins Now thank you for that question. You know, the the the program, continues to mature and continues to grow. As we've talked about, we certainly hope that, industry partners who are eligible to participate, are taking a look at TDR and, seeing whether it's the right fit for their company. If it is and they've got questions, we certainly encourage them to, to reach out, to, their contracting officers or, you know, centrally, to, TDR team at GSA.gov to ask questions about participation. 00;24;35;00 - 00;25;14;26 Greg Rollins You know, as the program continues to mature, we hope to continue to feed that kind of virtuous cycle that I mentioned earlier, where we're able to to collect more data and, and share that information back out. And as I said, we're continuing to focus on our our long term, long term maturity of the program, and engaging with our industry partners, engaging with our other stakeholders, asking good questions and listening about how we continue to mature, you know, the other areas of spend within the program, and, and, and continue to, to grow and, and, you know, as we reach, significant levels of maturity, you know, look, to look 00;25;14;26 - 00;25;20;29 Greg Rollins to expand the program. But, you know, we're just going to continue down the path of, of, of maturation at this point. 00;25;21;04 - 00;25;32;28 Rob Trubia So, Greg, you're the chief TDR champion. I want you to have the final word. How would you encourage industry out there to really take their time to really get into the TDR data reporting? What would you say to them? 00;25;32;28 - 00;25;57;03 Greg Rollins Yeah, I would ask, you know, any industry partners who are potentially eligible to to take a look, to understand, what goes into to TDR reporting and join us on the journey. As we've talked about, you know, I'm a I'm a firm believer that the data is the future. It's the direction that we're going. I think it aligns with industry practice and makes life easier on our industry partners who are participating. 00;25;57;05 - 00;26;03;02 Greg Rollins So, we hope you join us on the ride. And if you've got questions, we're here to help answer them along the way. 00;26;03;06 - 00;26;07;01 Rob Trubia Well, Greg, before we let you go, tell us where people go to learn more about TDR. 00;26;07;05 - 00;26;28;05 Greg Rollins Yeah. So there's a couple different resources that are available. You can go to the TDR web page on gsa.gov, which contains, you know, all of the SINs that are currently, participating in the program and a bunch more information. We regularly post, within the Multiple Awards Schedule, to the interact page for, for MAS. 00;26;28;08 - 00;26;47;14 Greg Rollins As I indicated earlier, there's also a number of resources that we've got, up on YouTube. So if you go to GSA's YouTube channel, you can see, several videos that we've done around, the mechanics of opting in, and how that works. If you're interested in, and pulling that thread a little further. 00;26;47;17 - 00;27;10;27 Rob Trubia That's really helpful, I appreciate it Greg.. So hopefully this episode is a bit of a TDR primer and there's lots more to learn, but that does it for today's episode. A big thank you to Greg Rollins for joining us and shedding light on GSA's Transactional Data Reporting program. It's clear that TDR is playing a crucial role in helping both GSA and its industry partners make smarter, data driven decisions. 00;27;10;29 - 00;27;30;02 Rob Trubia Hey, if you enjoyed today's episode, please be sure to subscribe and share it with others. Rob Trubia. Joined by our executive producer, Mr. Max Stempora, GSA Does That!? is a production of the US General Services Administration, Office of Strategic Communication. I hope you have a great rest of your day.