More than 100 businesses attend Heartland Acquisition Center’s 2019 Industry Days

GSA’s Eric Stonner (background) presents to Schedule 03FAC vendors March 13. Over 150 business representatives attended this year’s Heartland Acquisition Center Industry Days. Photograph by Gretchen Jabben

A total of 158 individuals from 107 businesses contracted by GSA to provide facility maintenance products and services descended on Kansas City this month as the Heartland Acquisition Center — part of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service Office of General Supplies and Services — hosted its 2019 Industry Days.

This year’s program included two separate three-day sessions. The first session, March 12-14, was reserved for providers offering services through GSA’s MAS Facilities Schedules and the Building Maintenance and Operations strategic sourcing solution. Providers offering products on GSA’s Schedule 51V, Global Supply and the Maintenance Repair and Operations strategic sourcing solution attended the second session, March 26-28.

“These forums give us an opportunity to listen to the vendor community directly,” said GSA Heartland Regional Administrator Michael Copeland. “No one has a better ground-level view of how our programs are functioning than our providers, and we love to hear from them about what is going well and what isn’t.”

The Heartland Region’s Industry Days has become an annual event for GSA vendors, where attendees participate in panel discussions, attend educational presentations on GSA’s performance and goals, and meet one on one with GSA contracting officers. Representatives from FAS’s Customer and Stakeholder Engagement division, category management office, Assisted Acquisition Services division, and other program management offices were all on hand to offer insight on how to best market products and services to GSA customers.

Heartland Acquisition Center vendors provide a range of facility maintenance offerings, helping federal agencies maintain everything from offices and buildings to military aircraft and Navy ships. Some of the more popular offerings include commercial paints and sealants, hand tools, lawn and garden equipment, appliances, industrial machinery, equipment rental, grounds maintenance, tree services, pest control, energy audit services, water conservation services, and building commissioning services.

For more information, visit the Facilities and Construction Category and Industrial Products and Services Category pages.