The General Services Administration outlined a new cost-cutting business model for its multiple award schedules by no longer adding new contractors for outdated products such as typewriters, photographic equipment, trophies and commemorative or promotional items.
Directing scarce acquisition resources away from the more than 8,000 obsolete contracts – which each cost at least $3,000 per year to administer – will streamline the schedule process and save more than $24 million a year, the agency said.
“By stopping the proliferation of low performance contracts and cutting products or services that are no longer mission-critical to the government, GSA will reduce waste and save millions of taxpayer dollars annually,” said GSA Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini. “This helps us streamline the way we do business, save taxpayer dollars, and ensure the most efficient delivery of services to our customer agencies.”
In recent years, the number of companies trying to get onto GSA’s multiple award schedules has roughly doubled, and the number of modifications to existing contracts has tripled.
A demand-based model for multiple award schedules will phase out outdated products and services, and eliminating contract agreements that have low or no performance. GSA will also look at more than 19,000 contracts with private sector firms to determine which industries are over-saturated and where duplication has created a crowded and confusing market.
“When contracting officers are bogged down managing thousands of contracts with little to no sales, they can’t focus on adding innovative solutions to the schedules, improving pricing, and simplifying the buying experience for our customers. Modernizing the schedules will change that,” said GSA Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Steve Kempf.
