Commercial e-commerce platforms, like Amazon, are coming to the government market and, indeed, are already here for smaller purchases. As GSA moves forward to expand these programs, several companies have wondered out loud whether the Multiple Award Schedules program has seen its hay day. Why would federal customers use the Schedule when they can point and click? Should we keep our Schedule? Should we exit the federal market? Read more
Long-time reader Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey writes: “My company is a new service Schedule contract holder. We have our Schedule labor rates, but we plan to charge extra for over-time, sick-leave, and people with special clearances. That’s ok, right?” Well, Mr. Feder, in a word, “no”. Schedule contractors cannot charge rates higher than those allowed by their Read more
How – or do we – ensure compliance with government laws like Buy American and Trade Agreements Act? Who has privity of contract with the government, the portal or the supplier selling through it? There seem to be so many slightly different models, how do we decide? These were among the top government questions at the January 9th GSA public meeting held to Read more
With one-third of the 2018 government fiscal year nearly gone and no end in sight to the endless string of CR’s, some agencies say that they may have trouble spending all of the new money Congress says they’re getting by September 30th. Some DOD officials offered this concern last week. At least one civilian agency official has said that 2018 could be the year Read more
When a government buyer stipulates in an RFP that they want an “exact product” that is, apparently, what they mean, even if the items involved are “aircraft curtains”. A recent protester at GAO found out the hard way that “exact” means just that and not an extremely similar item made by an “authorized source.” While the case, reported by the law firm of Jackson Kelly, involved a military specification, there are instances of companies offering “similar” commercial items that lost protests as well. One famous (or infamous, depending on Read more