GSA and OMB have issued an implementation plan to carry out a provision of the 2018 DoD authorization bill directing them to establish a program to procure commercial products through commercial e-commerce portals.
The authority “allows the federal government to leverage technology to fundamentally change the way government can buy commercial off-the-shelf items,” said a GSA announcement. “This opportunity to increase competition and improve transparency in the acquisition process can greatly reduce the burden the current processes place on both our acquisition workforce and industry partners.”
GSA said that in developing completing that first phase under the law, it reviewed best practices and consulted with industry stakeholders and federal agencies. For the next phase, market analysis and consultation, GSA said it “will conduct the appropriate market research while also identifying opportunities for an initial rollout for the end of FY19. For phase three, program implementation guidance, in FY20, GSA and OMB will focus on impact and policy assessments, data management, change management and scaling our proof of concept.”
It also said that four legislative additional changes are needed to take full advantage of the program: increasing the micro-purchase threshold to $25,000; empowering GSA to develop modernized competition requirements for the program; authorizing GSA to take advantage of contractual arrangements that maximize efficiency for buyers, portal providers, and sellers; and clarifying and broadening the definition of commercial e-commerce portals to take advantage of both current and future business models.
