Strategic sourcing has long been recognized as an effective business strategy for organizations to streamline acquisitions and reduce costs. It uses an organization-wide acquisition plan that leverages the purchasing power of the entire organization to:
- Negotiate better prices
- Realize better value
- Improve overall performance
The primary goals of the program are to:
- Strategically source across federal agencies
- Establish mechanisms to increase total cost savings, value, and socioeconomic participation
- Collaborate with industry partners to develop optimal solutions
- Share best practices
- Create a strategic sourcing community of practice
- Fulfillment of the Office of Management and Budget’s requirement for cross-government FSSI participation
- Easing achievement of socioeconomic goals
- Better collection and analysis of data for trend identification
- Realizing, replicating, and expanding cost savings
- Re-engineering of business processes
- Sharing of lessons learned and best practices
- Streamlining the procurement process
- Building maintenance and operations (BMO) solutions
- FSSI Wireless solutions
- Janitorial and sanitation (JanSan) supplies
- Office supplies
- Domestic Delivery Services (DDS)
- Maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies
GSA Global Supply™ Expands FSSI Offerings!
On behalf of the federal government, GSA is proud to be a leader in fostering the concept of strategic sourcing for federal agencies and in pioneering strategic sourcing contracts to demonstrate the varied benefits. During the last decade, the benefits of strategic sourcing have been identified and realized by corporations, both large and small, as well as by government at multiple levels. These benefits include:
- Lower prices for commodities
- Strengthened relationships with key suppliers
- Greater insight to spend data
- Opportunities to leverage further savings
In recent months, GSA Global Supply has extended the benefits of strategic sourcing to three product categories representing the core of its business:
- Office Supplies
- Janitorial and Sanitation (JanSan)
- Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO)
While adopting the principles and processes of strategic sourcing, GSA Global Supply has maintained – and even expanded – our commitment to those key stakeholders. Each contract solicitation under FSSI has required all prospective vendor partners to be AbilityOne distributors and to maintain that status through the life of the contract. These solicitations have also set aside for small businesses a large percentage of the potential awards. For all three product categories, GSA has chosen six vendor partners, of which five are small businesses. In this way, strategic sourcing has strengthened GSA’s historic partnership with small businesses.
For all three product categories, GSA identified a market basket of high-demand National Stock Numbers (NSNs) from multiple sub-categories. Prospective vendors had to offer prices on all market -basket items and had the option to offer additional products identified with a manufacturer’s part number. In early FY 2016, GSA rolled out the Office Supplies component with approximately 1,000 NSNs and a current tally of another 900 part-numbered items. (Both NSNs and part numbers carry all the safety and simplicity of all GSA Global Supply requisitions.)
In early FY 2017, GSA debuted the market -basket NSNs from both MRO and JanSan vendor partners. All items are identified on the GSA Global Supply or GSAAdvantage!® websites with an FSSI icon, but are provided by GSA Global Supply. GSA’s customer service team, available at (800) 488-3111, is equipped to provide status and resolve discrepancies on these items along with the entire product line from GSA Global Supply.
To help customers find these strategic sourcing offerings, we’ve published two catalogs. Both catalogs are available as convenient electronic “flipbooks” and printed editions:
The Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) Solution Offers Hardware, Tools, Paints, and More!
The MRO strategic sourcing solution was created to streamline federal acquisition of millions of maintenance, repair, and operations products. Previously, procurement of these supplies was usually fragmented across the government, which resulted in significant duplication. To ease the process for agencies to purchase MRO products, GSA awarded Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) under the MRO purchasing-channel strategic sourcing solution in March 2014. The BPAs are the result of a collaborative partnership with key agencies (led by GSA) to provide an MRO ordering vehicle for use by federal agencies to leverage the government’s buying power and realize increased savings.
The MRO BPAs are divided into three categories and cover a wide range of products:
- Hardware: includes screws, ladders, brackets, hoses, portable heating and cooling units, lighting, pipes and valves, and general containers
- Tools and Tool Cabinets: includes tool sets, hand and power tools, shears, scissors, tool cabinets
- Paints, Adhesives, and Sealants: includes paints, stains, varnishes, adhesives, sealants, and related tools and equipment
Monthly data collection enhances transparency and enables agencies to better manage expenditures and measure cost savings. The ability to provide agencies with their actual usage data helps them develop internal improvement processes. Prices-paid data is available on the Acquisition Gateway. This pricing represents what buyers are spending on products governmentwide. The “FAS FSSI Commodities Performance Dashboard,” found on the D2D site (https://d2d.gsa.gov/index.php), offers insight into such elements as agency usage, savings, and socioeconomic spend.
The MRO purchasing channel is a self-service solution: Agencies can access this pricing through GSAAdvantage!®, DOD EMALL, and contractor-operated websites, as well as catalogs and brick-and-mortar stores, using their federal SmartPay® 2 card. Purchases are made using the government purchase card, or a purchase order, and service delivery and payment are handled between the customer and the contractor. FAR 8.4 order requirements are valid. There are monthly training webinars for the MRO purchasing-channel solution including live site walk-throughs and ordering information. See https://interact.gsa.gov/gsa-training/virtual for the training schedule and registration.
The MRO purchasing channel received the Best-in-Class (BIC) designation in October of 2016. With the implementation of governmentwide category management for purchasing common goods and services, the MRO solution has met the criteria for best contracts and practices within its category. MRO received this new governmentwide designation by meeting the OMB-established category-management performance criteria of requirements planning, data-driven pricing strategies, performance management, and validation and review processes. The evaluation and approval steps were a collaborative effort between subject-matter experts and category leadership across agencies. Becoming a best-in-class solution assures agency customers the MRO purchasing channel is a proven vehicle to be used with confidence to procure maintenance, repair, and operations equipment and supplies.
Learn more about the MRO purchasing-channel solution by visiting www.gsa.gov/fssimro. The solution is also on GSA’s Acquisition Gateway in the “Industrial Products & Services” hallway. For more information on the MRO requisition-channel solution, visit www.gsa.gov
New Building Maintenance and Operations (BMO) Zones Being Added!
The Facilities and Construction governmentwide category has reached the highest current performance in its industry – a Best-in-Class (BIC) determination – for its Building Maintenance and Operations (BMO) contracting vehicle. This achievement demonstrates the beneficial impacts of the category management across the federal government. The BIC determination for the BMO solution was conducted by a broad base of cross-government subject-matter experts and leadership teams – and the contracting vehicle was assessed on its rigorous planning process, appropriate pricing strategies, and data-driven management and practices, as well as independent reviews by category teams.
Thirty-three contracts have been awarded for the BMO Zone-1 strategic sourcing solution. This solution includes two multiple-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (MA-IDIQ) contract vehicles that will give government agencies a streamlined process for acquiring facility maintenance and operations services, including HVAC maintenance, plumbing, electrical maintenance, elevator maintenance, janitorial, landscaping, fire-alarm and suppression-system maintenance, roofing, pest control, commissioning, and more. Nine unrestricted contracts were awarded under the “BMO” vehicle, and 24 contracts were set aside specifically for small businesses under the “BMO SB” vehicle for contracting with small businesses. These initial awards will service agencies in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
GSA is currently working on BMO Phase II, which will add five zones to the solution. The final RFPs have been posted to FedBizOpps, and it’s anticipated these contracts will be awarded by the end of second quarter of FY 2017. The five new Phase II zones are:
- Zone 2: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts
- Zone 3: Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina
- Zone 4: Texas, Oklahoma
- Zone 5: California, Nevada
- Zone 6: Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois
For more information on the BMO solution, visit www.gsa.gov/bmo or the “Facilities & Construction” hallway on the Acquisition Gateway at https://hallways.cap.gsa.gov/
IT Schedule 70 Offers New SINs for Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services!
GSA’s IT Schedule 70 now includes four new Special Item Numbers for Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services (HACS). IT Schedule 70 is the largest, most widely-used acquisition vehicle in the federal government. IT Schedule 70 is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Schedule providing direct access to products, services, and solutions from more than 4,700 certified industry partners.
In support of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), these new SINs will provide government agencies with quicker and more reliable access to key, pre-vetted support services that will:
- Expand agencies’ capacities to test their high-priority IT systems
- Rapidly address potential vulnerabilities
- Stop adversaries before they affect networks
- Penetration testing
- Incident response
- Cyberhunt
- Risk and vulnerability assessment
GSA has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure these SINs will provide a high level of service to agencies and that companies providing these types of services are rigorously vetted to ensure strong performance. GSA continues to work with DHS as companies move services to the initial four SINs to ensure the government’s cybersecurity needs are being met.
We encourage agencies to visit the HACS website for more information on how to use the SINs to purchase cybersecurity services. For additional questions regarding the HACS SINs, please contact our HACS Program Management Office (PMO) at HACS@gsa.gov, and for all other cybersecurity related questions, please contact our IT Security Category (ITSC) team at itsecuritycm@gsa.gov
Benefit from GSA Events and Training!
Browse dates and locations for GSA-sponsored seminars, workshops, meetings, and other events. You can also visit the “GSA Training Programs” page for descriptions, by topic, of the training we offer to federal employees and vendors. Many events are online.
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For Information and Customer Service
If you have questions or want to learn more about any of GSA’s solutions or programs, please contact the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at (800) 488-3111 or NCSCcustomer.service@gsa.gov.
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