A newly appointed Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel will help the General Services Administration update the policies and operations of its schedules program. The panel members include federal officials, GSA customers and leaders of industry associations.
A newly appointed Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel will help the General Services Administration update the policies and operations of its schedules program. The panel members include federal officials, GSA customers and leaders of industry associations.
Chairman: Elliott Branch
Executive director for contracts
Naval Sea Systems Command
Larry Allen
President
Coalition for Government Procurement
Alan Chvotkin
Executive vice president and counsel
Professional Services Council
David Drabkin
Acting chief acquisition officer and senior procurement executive
General Services Administration
Don Erickson
Director of government relations
Security Industry Association
Thomas Essig
Chief procurement officer
Homeland Security Department
Jeffrey Johnson
Director of government operations
International Facility Management Association
Jacqueline Jones
Branch chief of consolidated and language services branch and contracting officer
General Services Administration
Judith Nelson
Industry specialist at the Office of Acquisition Management
General Services Administration
Glenn Perry
Senior acquisition executive
Education Department
Lesa Scott
Director of IT schedule contract operations of Integrated Technology Services
General Services Administration
Thomas Sharpe Jr.
Senior procurement executive
Treasury Department
Debra Sonderman
Director of the Office of Acquisition and Property Management
Interior Department
April Stephenson
Director
Defense Contract Audit Agency
Thedlus Thompson
Senior assistant general counsel
General Services Administration
A new advisory panel will evaluate the relevance of a price reduction clause that requires companies on General Services Administration schedule contracts to offer the government their most deeply discounted prices.
The clause is likely to be at the center of debate for the panel, which is reviewing the schedules program, GSA’s most lucrative venture. The panel’s goal is to determine how the program can best adapt to changes in the market.
The clause requires contractors to give the government the same discount they they would give to their most favored customer. However, recent trends in task-order competition, reverse auctions and a surge in agencies buying services might make the clause obsolete, some experts say. GSA is looking to the Multiple Award Schedules Advisory Panel for an independent assessment of the issue and an overall review of the schedules program. It created the panel in March.
The panel will ask what the phrase “obtain lowest overall cost alternative” means in the context of getting the best value, said David Drabkin, GSA’s acting chief acquisition officer and a panel member. Lurita Doan, GSA’s administrator, said she expects initial recommendations in several months and final recommendations in early fiscal 2009.
As the policy review begins, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the committee will be watching closely. In an April 18 letter to Doan, Waxman said the pricing clause is a powerful tool to ensure the government gets the best prices.
“An initiative to eliminate or weaken the clause could significantly increase costs to the taxpayer,” Waxman wrote. He requested more detailed information about the panel.
Bill Woods, director of acquisition and sourcing management at the Government Accountability Office, said the pricing clause merits review. It was established for commodities, but agencies are now buying more services than products. He also said the panel should examine roles and responsibilities in interagency agreements and procedures for getting accurate acquisition data.
Doan said she sees an opportunity to adapt GSA’s largest program to today’s market. She said the schedules program can be improved.
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