ACQUISITION INNOVATION SHOWCASED AT COALITION FALL CONFERENCE

The manner in which you do business with your federal customer is changing.  Traditional acquisition methods stand increasingly side-by-side with newer, user friendly acquisition tools.  Failure to notice and adapt to these changes could definitely have a negative impact on your government business.  Those who attended the recent Coalition for Government Procurement Fall Conference got a taste of the future. Using both FAR and non-FAR-based flexibility to speed acquisitions was a consistent theme.  GSA’s Jeff Koses and DHS’ Soraya Correa discussed OTA’s, GSA’s Commercial Solutions Opening, and their agencies’ procurement innovation labs.  Laura Stanton of GSA discussed progress made to date on her agency’s Commercial Platforms Initiative, intended to open on-line commercial platforms for federal use.  GSA Schedule program manager Stephanie Shutt updated attendees on plans to greatly consolidate the Schedules program to make it easier for federal customers to find what they need from GSA.  In fact, it is notable that the number one issue federal buyers have with GSA is their inability to easily find what they’re looking for.   IT modernization was a specific discussion topic, with GSA, DHS, and industry speakers all offering insights on how government agencies can use existing acquisition flexibility to obtain state of the art technology solutions that can help them better meet their missions.  Changes are occurring, even if they may not be immediately noticeable.  Make sure you know about the topics above and stay on top of developments in your specific market segments.