Guest Blogger: Carolyn Alston, Executive Vice President and General Counsel I read with interest Steve Kempf’s, testimony before the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce. Kempf, who is GSA’s Commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) acknowledged that GSA needs greater agility, federal agencies need faster access to emerging solutions, and GSA needs to
1. Notice to Coalition Members I want to update you on some recent changes that have a positive impact for all members. The first is that Carolyn Alston is our new Executive Vice President & General Counsel. No one matches her background and domain expertise. She has already had an immediate positive impact for all Coalition
Last week the General Services Administration (GSA) announced its Demand Based Model for the Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) program. Under the Demand Based Model GSA will close some schedules for new offers ending continuous open seasons for those schedules or for certain SINs within a schedule. GSA’s goal is to balance the number of schedule
1. Comment of the Week Last week the General Services Administration (GSA) announced its Demand Based Model for the Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) program. Under the Demand Based Model GSA will close some schedules for new offers ending continuous open seasons for those schedules or for certain SINs within a schedule. GSA’s goal is to
In thinking about the Next Generation Schedules initiative, I am reminded of Redskins Coach George Allen’s famous quote “The future is now.” The time for the Next Generation Schedules is NOW. In responding to the budgetary challenges facing GSA’s customer agencies, the federal government will increasingly look to shared services models to leverage resources and save
1. Comment of the Week In thinking about the Next Generation Schedules initiative, I am reminded of Redskins Coach George Allen’s famous quote “The future is now.” The time for the Next Generation Schedules is NOW. In responding to the budgetary challenges facing GSA’s customer agencies, the federal government will increasingly look to shared services
1. Comment of the Week As promised, this week’s Comment proposes draft Best Practices for Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs). The purpose is to promote practices that enhance competition and opportunity for government and industry. Sound FSS BPAs leverage requirements and deliver best value to customer agencies. Correspondingly, sound FSS BPAs result
1. Comment of the Week Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer (growing up in small town in Northern Maine it usually seemed that summer didn’t begin till July 4th). As a child I remember that in days leading up to Memorial Day, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) would stand outside the
1. Comment of the Week As they say in sports, another Expo is in the books! While this year’s GSA Expo agenda was scaled back, the 2012 Expo remained an important “Myth-Busters” event. The Expo included over 10,000 hours of training for government and industry acquisition professionals. It also served as a government-industry forum for
1. Comment of the Week On February 2, 2011, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) issued the first “Myth-Buster” memorandum entitled Addressing Misconceptions to Improve Communication with Industry during the Acquisition Process. This past Monday, OFPP issued the second “Myth-Busters” entitled “Myth-Busting 2”: Addressing Misconceptions and Further Improving Communications During the Acquisition Process. The second