During an industry conference, GSA’s Chief of Staff, Jack St. John made a clear commitment that the new administration would be more “proactively business friendly — which means streamlining the acquisition process, reducing regulatory burdens while keeping good policies in place.”

TDR and MIE under Review

St. John emphasized reassessing the procurement process, particularly in view of contractor compliance with the pilot Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) program. GSA has been systematically releasing TDR requirements to specific commodity schedules requiring contractors to maintain and report transactional sales data through the schedule and other Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts.

The TDR would eliminate the currently required commercial sales practice disclosures and–theoretically–the price reduction clause; though it is unclear how the data will be used or how compliance will be maintained.

Seeking industry involvement, St. John said “”we’re going to re-examine the burdens and benefits of TDR. As we do so, we want and need your input.” Though a specific site was not provided, industry can monitor the discussion on GSA’s interact site and by attending other industry events..

What is the “Making It Easier” Initiative?

St. John also discussed GSA’s acquisition initiatives that include the “Making It Easier” (MIE) initiative and streamlining the bloated Professional Services Schedule.  The MIE initiative aims to ease a path to schedule award for innovative IT products and services. Removing the 2-year corporate experience requirement and placing an urgency on review times while at GSA.

GSA will allow for more requests for information, longer lead times, and expand the number of GSA industry days.

This is an optimistic sign for all Federal vendors and we encourage you to take this moment to speak with the acquisition community, respond to Requests for Information (RFIs) RFIs. and provide feedback whenever an opportunity appears.

GSA posts industry days and other events on their site: https://www.gsa.gov/events & on GSA Interact: https://interact.gsa.gov/. You can find key updates here and at the sites above.