Sales on the General Services Administration’s Schedule 70 information technology contract have remained steady through the past three years.
Fiscal 2007: $16.9 billion
Fiscal 2006: $17.3 billion
Fiscal 2005: $16.8 billion
Lawmakers and Bush administration officials spent more time on acquisition issues in 2007 than at any time in recent memory. With workforce certification, multiple-award contracts and greater contractor oversight in the limelight, the past 12 months offered agency officials plenty to think about.
Hot: Cooperative purchasing State and local governments spent 35 percent more on information technology products and services listed on the General Services Administration’s Schedule 70 contract. Sales increased $83 million to $323 million this year, compared with $240 million in sales in 2006, according to GSA figures.
The cooperative purchasing program, which opens GSA’s schedule contracts to state and local governments, gave Schedule 70 a needed boost. Overall, however, the contract’s sales figures merely kept pace with those in past years.
Schedule 70 sales reached $16.9 billion in fiscal 2007, compared with $17.3 billion in 2006 and $16.8 billion in 2005, according to GSA. Sales remained relatively steady, even though three major companies — Canon, EMC and Sun Microsystems — pulled out of the Schedule 70 contract this fall. Major companies might continue to opt out of the schedule in 2008, but sales continued to be strong in 2007.
“We’re hovering on stability,” said John Johnson, the Federal Acquisition Service’s assistant commissioner for integrated technology services. “We expect that through our enhanced relationships with state and local governments, we’re going to see growth.”
Johnson said the expected growth would help Schedule 70 business and would improve interoperability among federal, state and local governments. To enhance the program, Johnson said he wants Schedule 70 to include products that agencies will need for mandatory programs such as Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. — Matthew Weigelt
Not hot: Schedule 70 Although agency spending on GSA’s Schedule 70 contract for IT dropped only about $400,000 this year, signs of leaner days ahead are beginning to appear.
For GSA, one worrisome sign is that many agencies are making their purchases from the schedule without GSA’s assistance, said Kevin Plexico, executive vice president of operations at market research firm Input. He said agencies want to avoid paying service fees to GSA, and many of them now believe they can handle purchasing better than GSA or other agencies that offer such services.
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