Federal Manager's Daily Report

The GSA has issued a final rule to incorporate order-level materials, also known as other direct costs, into the Multiple Award Schedule program, which “will make it easier for customer agencies to buy, and industry partners to provide, complete procurement solutions through the MAS program,” the agency has said.

“This change to the Schedules program provides agencies the flexibility to easily acquire OLMs, creating consistency between the MAS program and other established indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts. Providing agencies with additional flexibility through MAS will result in more consistent application of policies and better value for customer agencies, industry partners and taxpayers,” it said.

GSA said the change is part of efforts to more closely align the MAS program with market forces and reflects requests from customer agencies and industry.

“GSA anticipates the final rule will reduce contract duplication and the need for agencies to conduct additional costly open-market procurements. This new flexibility will remove barriers to entry into the federal marketplace, drive unnecessary costs out of the procurement process for federal agencies, and make it easier for industry to do business through the MAS program,” it said.