GSA Blog

GSA’s ReverseAuctions platform celebrates 3rd anniversary by adding new features

GSA was established on July 1, 1949. A lot has changed since then, but we’re still working to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to government and the American people. A recent success story has been our innovative ReverseAuctions platform. In the three years since its release, GSA’s customers have saved more than $18.5 million or 17 percent by using reverse auctions. And it’s been a boon for small business, too: they’ve been awarded more than 92 percent of the procurements conducted through GSA’s ReverseAuctions platform to date.

While those numbers are solid, we’d like to make this innovative tool even more useful. So, after reviewing a lot of helpful feedback from our federal and industry partners, I’m pleased to announce that to celebrate RA’s third anniversary in June, GSA introduced RA 2.0. This update added new features making the platform even easier and faster for vendors AND buyers, including:

• A new single award vendor bid history matrix with all vendor names and aggregate bids of all line items for each vendor, allowing for easier reviews and evaluations
• An enhanced Create Auction page, making the process even easier and faster. Several items previously positioned at the line item level (bid decrements, brand name selection, shipping address) have been moved to the auction creation page. This allows them to be applied at the auction level, reducing the touchpoints buyers need to create auctions
• The ability to easily and quickly import and export line item data to create auctions. Buyers simply download our new excel template, share it with their program offices to build Independent Government Estimates (IGEs), then upload the document back into the RA system to easily create the line items for their auction
• Updated buyer and vendor screens showing all line items in a grid format on one page

RA 2.0 also moves the Q&A end date and time selection to a more logical position, placing it prior to selecting the auction end date/time, and simplifies the way vendor attachments are displayed to buyers.

These updates and changes are a result of your feedback to the RA platform and, with the launch of RA 2.0, we hope you’ll keep the conversation going. For answers to your general questions about GSA ReverseAuctions, please send an email to reverseauctionshelp@gsa.gov or call 855-372-1094. The help desk is available for you Monday through Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., CT.

For buyer or vendor training, please contact us at ReverseAuctions@gsa.gov or check for available classes at www.gsa.gov/events.

And for the latest program updates, please join the GSA ReverseAuctions Community on GSA Interact. Thanks, and happy anniversary from the GSA ReverseAuctions team!