GSA establishes advisory panel for Schedule program

A new advisory panel will begin an in-depth review of the General Services Administration's policies and regulations for schedule contracts, the agency announced yesterday.

GSA named 15 acquisition experts ? 11 from government and four from industry ? to serve on the panel and make recommendations. Elliott Branch, the executive director for contracts at the Naval Sea Systems Command, is the panel's chairman.

Lurita Doan, GSA's administrator, said at a press conference today she's open to what the committee recommends. Doan expects to have an initial set of recommendations in several months, and said she can envision receiving the final recommendations in early fiscal 2009 if things go as planned.

Doan said companies nationwide are growing increasingly frustrated with doing business with GSA. That's partly because of the auditing process and uncertainty about what could trigger the price reduction clause. That clause requires a contractor to give the government the same discount as any of the company's other customers.

Because of the price clause and other reasons, contracts have come under scrutiny from Congress and inspectors general. This has caused major companies, such as Sun Microsystems, Canon and EMC, to leave the program.

"I'm concerned that this level of frustration could turn into a growing reluctance of companies to list their products and services on a GSA schedule, and so I believe the time is now for GSA to face this challenge," Doan said.

David Drabkin, GSA's acting chief acquisition officer and a member of the new panel, said one of the important issues the panel must consider is how agencies are increasingly buying more services than products. He said GSA has to reconsider its pricing structures, such as the price clause, to adapt to the market.

The panel will review the policy statements, proposed regulations, provisions in solicitations and other issues that affect the structure of the schedules. The panel will help GSA get the lowest prices for products and services, while promoting fair contract awards and administration, the agency said in a March 28 Federal Register notice that first announced the panel's formation.

The panel has a two-year charter, but is scheduled to disband after submitting its final set of recommendations.

The MAS Advisory Panel Members are:

Elliott Branch

MAS Advisory Panel Chairman

Defense Department

Debra Sonderman

Interior Department

Thomas Essig

Homeland Security Department

Glenn Perry

Education Department

Thomas Sharpe

Treasury Department

Lesa Scott

General Services Administration

Jacqueline Jones

General Services Administration

Judith Nelson

General Services Administration

Alan Chvotkin

Professional Services Council

Larry Allen

Coalition for Government Procurement

Donald Erickson

Security Industry Association

Jeffrey Johnson

International Facility Management Association

April Stephenson

Defense Department

Thedlus Thompson

General Services Administration

David Drabkin
General Services Administration

Matthew Weigelt writes for Federal Computer Week, an 1105 Government Information Group publication.