GSA Blog

Federal Marketplace Strategy Summer 2020 Release: Major Progress on our Cornerstone Initiatives

I’m pleased to share GSA's Federal Marketplace Strategy Summer 2020 Release with you. As you’ll read, GSA’s latest set of policy, process, and technology improvements show we’ve made some great strides on three of our cornerstone projects: Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Consolidation, Catalog Management, and Commercial Platforms.

First, MAS Consolidation continues to proceed on schedule. At the end of July, we successfully completed Phase Two, which means we’ve now entered the home stretch of this extensive three part project to modernize federal acquisition. We have already begun to see the benefits of having just one Schedule. For example, it’s taking less time to add Special Item Numbers because we can now modify the existing contract rather than having to create a new contract. Phase Three begins multiple contract consolidation for current MAS holders. Once complete, our industry partners will have just one Schedule contract with GSA - streamlining their business operations with us. And, the workforce has fewer contracts to manage, so they can focus on excellence in service delivery. This is really a win-win-win for everyone.

Second, our Commercial Platforms initiative is also moving on to the next step. GSA has awarded no-cost contracts to three e-marketplace platform providers: Fisher Scientific, Overstock.com, Inc. and Amazon Business. These companies will take part in our proof of concept as we test e-marketplace platforms that connect federal buyers with multiple vendors as they shop for commercial products under the micro-purchase threshold. This buying environment will enable agencies to gain critical insights into online spend, leverage the government’s buying power, ensure small business participation and increase supply chain visibility. We anticipate launching the proof of concept with these platforms this month.

Third, we’re making strides in Catalog Management as well, starting to build out the core infrastructure for the Authoritative Catalog Repository (ACR) this quarter. As we announced in our Spring 2020 Release, the ACR will be our cloud-based home for all catalog data. We’ve also issued a contract for data enrichment services. This effort includes developing the Verified Products Portal, a critical part of our long term Catalog Management solution. The VPP will collect manufacturer originating product data so we have better product information across GSA marketplaces.

I’ve highlighted just a few improvements from our Summer 2020 release, and there are many enhancements on our website. Please set aside a minute to watch our new FMP video and check out all the FMP Summer 2020 Release improvements.

I’m so proud of our team for maintaining the momentum on our agency priorities while simultaneously supporting our government’s COVID-19 response efforts. GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service has for months been deeply involved in supporting COVID-19 acquisition activities. We’ve been hard at work with our primary duty: helping our customer agencies continue their mission critical work - and at the same  are continuing to deliver on our pledge to modernize and simplify the buying and selling experience for our stakeholders.