A House sub-committee is slated to look the state of federal IT acquisition this week.  Included in that may be a review of GSA procurement programs, including the IT 70 Schedule.  What will Congress see and what conclusions will they draw from the view?

Government acquisition is, intentionally, not a straightforward business.  Government agencies don’t, or aren’t supposed to, just go out and buy “stuff”.  Rules on country of origin, secure supply chain, and, of course, a slew of socio-economic goals makes the government “market” unlike any other.  For many years the GSA Multiple Award Schedules program has been the largest central commercial solution acquisition vehicle precisely because it addresses all applicable rules and lets buyers focus on getting the solutions they need.  That’s starting to change now that GSA is pursuing low price at all costs.  So much for small business, secure supply chain considerations, and, country of origin issues.

These comments aren’t idle speculation.  Congress has, in fact, previously held hearings on some of these issues.  One such review found that that hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses had left the program, sometimes being shut out by GSA itself if it was an office products company.  Secure supply chain?   How can that be verified when there are “virtual” Schedule contractors with no actual offices?  GSA does take country of origin seriously, but even on that issue one acquisition center recently touted its efforts to reduce the number of non-compliant products to a little over 1,000 – items that remain on contract.

Price, by virtue of several procurement laws, is not the only issue at hand when conducting a government acquisition.  Procurement programs succeed when they address all government requirements.  As Congress prepares for its hearing this week, GSA leaders may want to re-examine their “race to the bottom” on pricing and make sure that they’re delivering all of what’s important to their customers.  If Congress isn’t convinced that the GSA Schedule meets all acquisition requirements, it could be in for a bumpy ride indeed.