28 January 2009
Senate stimulus bill packed with IT spending
The $365 billion stimulus bill the Senate Finance Committee approved on Jan. 27 is packed with IT spending, including incentives to encourage health information technology, expansion of broadband services and funds for modernization projects at numerous agencies.
19 January 2009
GSA works to improve Schedule 70 operations
The General Services Administration is cleaning up the operations of its $16 billion information technology schedule contract, an official said Jan. 14.
15 January 2009
GSA considers launching STARS II
The General Services Administration plans to launch a second version of its governmentwide technology contract set aside for small businesses, an agency official said yesterday.
6 January 2009
More businesses turning to the government market in 2009
While the economic news in the private sector over the past few years has been consistently grim, government agencies continue to buy goods and services at a steady pace and savvy vendors are adjusting their sales and marketing strategies accordingly.
18 December 2008
GSA
awards 72 small business Alliant contracts
The General Services Administration awarded 72 small businesses spots
on the Alliant Small Business contract 10 more companies than in the
initial award, the agency announced today.
8 December 2008
GSA bumps $50B Alliant awards to 2009
The General Services Administration plans to award the Alliant Small
Business telecommunications contract this month, as it seeks to further
evaluate bids on the much larger Alliant contract, agency officials
said today.
2 December 2008
GSA gets new congressional affairs leader
Brian Mabry, a deputy associate administrator at the General Services
Administration's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs,
will become associate administrator and take charge of the office Dec.
6, GSA announced today.
26 November 2008 GSA
Steps Newsletter, Issue No. 20
This issue contains interesting articles on the new Multiple Award
Schedule Program Office, a number of articles on issues impacting
Global Supply industry partners, and more.
30 November 2008
GSA
gets tough with IT vendors over pricing
Government contract negotiators are taking a harder line with many
information technology vendors amid growing concerns by auditors and
investigators that companies are overpricing.
21 November 2008
Burton:
Contractors will get more accountability
The responsibility for accountability will continue to shift during the
coming years to federal contractors, a former top procurement official
said today.
20 November 2008
Acting
GSA administrator backs broad cooperative purchasing plan
The General Services Administration should open up all its supply
schedules to state and local governments, the head of the agency said
on Thursday.
29 October 2008
GSA
creates contract for 'green' support services
GSA creates contract for 'green' support services.
24 October 2008
GSA
creates private network for transition teams
Although the president-elect's transition team will not have immediate
access to government systems, due to security regulations, they will
have computers and key applications via a secure network, a government
official said Friday.
21 October 2008
GSA
Varnado: GSA must prove its contracts' value
Tyree Varnado, acting commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service,
said today the General Services Administration hopes to show value to
its customers to lead them away from using in-house contracts.
9 October 2008
GSA
sees agencies buying more via online shops
As procurement experts consider the General Services Administrations
online shopping centers vital to checking prices on the Multiple Award
Schedules program, agencies spent more money last year via those shops.
6 October 2008 Panel
to recommend rolling back pricing clause
The Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel today agreed to recommend
that officials remove the price reduction clause regarding products
sold on the MAS programs contracts.
1 October 2008
New
office will manage schedules contracts
The General Services Administration today announced that a new office
will oversee its Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) program, a major
program in the procurement agency.
29 September 2008
Going
through the motions
The Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel, which is reviewing various
parts of the MAS program, approved seven recommendations at its Sept.
19 and 22 meetings. The recommendations focus on professional services
sold through MAS contracts. At its October meetings, the panel will
discuss issues related to products. The panel will send its recommended
changes to the program to the General Services Administrations
administrator.
29 September 2008
GSAs
consolidation 2.0 project
Agency looks to a shared services model to eliminate costly
redundancies in the procurement system
A General Services Administration-managed e-government project with a
history of consolidating federal acquisition systems needs
streamlining, according to GSA officials.
20 August 2008
Senator
upset by Williams appointment
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has said he is disappointed with
President Bush for naming Jim Williams acting administrator of the
General Services Administration.
19 August 2008
GSA
signs agreement on veterans' businesses
The General Services Administration and an organization that promotes
veteran-owned businesses signed an agreement today to increase the
amount of money GSA sends to service-disabled veterans, the agency said.
August 15 2008
GSA
extends deadline for TIC proposals
Vendors working on responses to a statement of work for Trusted
Internet Connections services now have until Sept. 10 to complete them,
an extension from the original Aug. 18 deadline.
August 12 2008 GSA's
still resolving Mobile Armor case
The General Services Administration is still trying to find the right
course of action to take about a vendor whose marketing materials
falsely implied the government had found its products to be the best,
according to GSA officials.
1 August 2008 Williams
GSA nomination blocked; options weighed
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) put an unexpected brake on Jim Williams
path to head the General Services Administration last week, but the
Bush administration does have some options to get around it, according
to observers.
28 July 2008 Buzz
of the Week: Procurement deja