Two Requests for Information (RFI’s) released last Friday by GSA seek answers to a wide range of questions from both product suppliers and e-commerce portal providers as part of the agency’s Section 846 implementation work.  The RFI’s are required reading by any company interested in this project and serious consideration should be given to submitting comments prior to the July 20^th closing date.  The portal provider RFI asks more questions than a parent of a teenager coming home after curfew.  Spend analysis, spot discount capabilities, third party supplier agreements, and other implementation questions are all part of a 21 page document.  The product supplier RFI, weighing in at 16 pages, asks questions about whether a supplier is willing to register in SAM and how companies sell through e-commerce portal providers currently.  Significantly, GSA asks only how the implementation of e-commerce portals in government will help a supplier’s federal business, not so much on how it could be harmed.  The RFI’s indicate that GSA is indeed serious about gathering as much information as possible from industry.  Along with the June 21^st public meeting, the agency is providing ample opportunity for comment, either pro or con.  It is incumbent upon companies to respond and ensure their views are heard. See the links here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/06/15/2018-12891/request-for-information-from-platform-providers-of-commercial-e-commerce-portals

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/06/15/2018-12893/request-for-information-from-suppliers-selling-on-commercial-e-commerce-portals