The GSA Blog

Setting the Record Straight on Small Business Contracts

Matthew Burrell — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:30:53 +0000

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) remains committed to expanding opportunities for small businesses as part of the agency’s mission to deliver the best value to federal partners and the American people. GSA ensures that highly competitive, well-prepared small businesses have the opportunity to pursue contracts through GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule programs, and through other contract vehicles.

GSA remains committed to expanding opportunities for small businesses as part of the agency’s mission to deliver the best value to federal partners and the American people.

GSA established a guaranteed minimum of $2,500 in sales under the Multiple Award Schedule program. If a schedule contractor does not generate at least $2,500 in sales, they are entitled to the difference between that amount and their actual level of sales. Historically, GSA has required the contractors to show that they had complied with their contract and formally request this minimum. Under new leadership, GSA is changing its policy and will no longer require eligible businesses to request these payments. Instead, GSA will proactively identify eligible businesses and issue payments automatically. The agency will also issue payments to those eligible businesses who have not requested payments within the past six years.

GSA is uniquely positioned to help small businesses find opportunities in the marketplace and is committed to doing whatever we can to help them succeed.

In FY12, more than $2 billion went to companies on our small business governmentwide contracts (GWACs) such as Alliant SB, 8(a)STARS I and II, and VETS.
More than $1.2 billion in GSA contracts went to small businesses in FY12 and the SBA
gave us their Leadership Award for our strong record in using small and
disadvantaged businesses. Last fiscal year, GSA was rated an “A+”for exceeding SBA small business contracting goals in nearly all categories.
More than 80% of all suppliers on the Multiple Award Schedules are small businesses.
100 percent of the companies on our telecommunications strategic sourcing initiative are small businesses, which saw almost $25 million in sales last year.
76% of the vendors on our office supply strategic sourcing initiative are small businesses.
Nearly 6,000 small businesses took our Pathways to Success training program in FY12, helping them learn the ins-and-outs of the government market while, combined with our Vendor Toolkit, helping them assess whether serving in the government market is a good
business decision for them.

We are proud of what we’ve accomplished so far and will continue to strengthen the partnership between small businesses and the federal government.

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GSA Exceeds Veteran Hiring Goals in 2013

Matthew Burrell — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:25:50 +0000

At GSA, we understand the importance of hiring the men and women who serve our nation and are committed to ensuring that our heroes have the opportunity of employment when they return home. Veterans bring attributes employers desire – integrity, diligence, and professionalism. We are proud that we are exceeding our goals of hiring veterans and service disabled veterans in 2013. Our goal was to hire 27.9% veterans and 13% service disabled veterans; to date we have exceeded those goals substantially by hiring 37.5% veterans and 22.9% disabled veterans with two more quarters left in the Fiscal Year.

GSA is committed to providing opportunities for our nation’s veterans.

GSA has long championed our veteran programs and participated in veterans’ recruitment career fairs sponsored by Veteran Service Organizations (VSO). We’ve also collaborated with other federal, state, and local governments veterans’ programs to actively recruit veterans and service disabled veterans. We’ve established relationships with military transition assistance offices to present employment opportunity information sessions to service members who are within 180 days of separation.

As a leader in innovation, GSA seeks out unique ways to help veterans by participating in the Wounded Warrior Program, which is sponsored by the Department of Defense’s Severely Injured Center, and Operation Warfighter. Recently, GSA’s Northwest/Arctic and Rocky Mountain Regions placed seven veterans in three states across the country.

Here at GSA we will continue to ensure veterans and disabled veterans have a place in the federal workforce. Veterans who would like more information on these programs should contact Jacquin Kirkman, GSA’s Veteran’s Program Manager at (202) 501-0598 or visit FedsHireVets.gov for more information on federal veteran employment.

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Former Presidential Aircraft Hits the Auction Block

Matthew Burrell — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:50:44 +0000

From airplanes to washing machines, fire trucks to Navy vessels, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) provides consumers a wealth of opportunities to give new life to surplus property through GSA Auctions.

While occasionally, the auction site will get a high-profile item like this DC-9 that flew presidents, vice-presidents, and other dignitaries for more than 30 years, everyday items such as office furniture, shop equipment, and computer gear generate $120-150 million in savings per year according to David Robbins, Director of GSA’s Office of Personal Property Management.

Auctions not only save taxpayer dollars by eliminating disposal fees, but they also help reduce the government’s environmental impact by keeping excess items from ending up in landfills.

In addition to personal property, GSA also auctions off a wide variety of vehicles through GSA Fleet, as well as excess real estate like the Army Ammunition Plant that just sold for $28 million.

So the next time you need a car, a computer server or even a presidential aircraft, think about placing a bid at GSA Auctions.

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GSA’s Data.gov Highlighted through New Executive Order on Open Data

Matthew Burrell — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:59:51 +0000

Today’s ground-breaking Executive Order and new Open Data Policy requires agencies to open up new data and information, present them in human- and machine-readable formats, and help to usher in the next stage of open data innovation. GSA’s Data.gov will continue to be the main home for opening up government data to help citizens make better-informed decisions and empower businesses to be more innovative.

GSA’s Data.gov is the main home for opening up government data to help citizens make better-informed decisions and empower businesses to be more innovative.

As a priority Open Government Initiative for President Obama’s administration, GSA’s Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets such as data on active hurricanes and tropical storms, per diem rates, and the White House visitor log that are generated and held by the Federal Government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets.

In almost four years since inception, Data.gov has grown from 47 datasets to 400,000, from a few agencies to 180, and from providing only the data to also providing context, community, and conversations around the data.

GSA continues to improve Data.gov and wants your input. Check out our list of open questions and give us some feedback.

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GSA’s Martha Dorris Named Service to America Medal Finalist

Matthew Burrell — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:26:59 +0000

The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service announced GSA’s Martha Dorris as one of the 31 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalists. The Sammies honor outstanding federal employees engaged in important work to spur the economy, protect the environment and advance the health, safety and well-being of Americans. Martha is being recognized for her extraordinary contribution to improving citizen services.

The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service announced GSA’s Martha Dorris as one of the 31 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalists.

Martha has been a driving force behind the use of technology to help citizens more easily and quickly obtain government services and information through websites, emails, telephone calls, or social media. “Martha is the vanguard of people who are coming up with those services delivering more for less in a technological environment,” GSA Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini said. “She helps people connect directly with the services they need.”

As deputy associate administrator over citizen services in GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, Martha created a brand and a following for USA.gov and the Spanish-language version, GobiernoUSA.gov, the most comprehensive federal web portals for government information and service. These sites received 50 million visits in fiscal year 2012.

Martha has also overseen the creation of Challenge.gov, a crowdsourcing platform that helps agencies solve problems, and launched USASearch, a powerful, commercial-grade Internet search engine used on agency websites. She also oversees the National Contact Center which answers Uncle Sam’s main phone number (1-800-FED-INFO) for routine calls and during emergencies such as during Superstorm Sandy. Her team also leads the way on fostering the use of social media across government through shared best practices and innovative applications.

As a finalist for one of eight Sammies, Martha is in the running for the ultimate honor of being named Federal Employee of the Year. Medal recipients will be announced on October 3.

We congratulate Martha Dorris on this well-deserved prestigious Sammie nomination honoring her career long dedication to citizen services and the important innovative programs she’s led here at GSA.

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GSA Connects Veterans to Opportunity

Matthew Burrell — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:30:05 +0000

Public Service Recognition Week, commemorated May 5-11, honors the work of the men and women who serve our nation. Veterans are an important part of this community, and GSA remains committed to increasing contracting opportunities for veteran and service disabled veterans. The agency recently hosted a Veteran’s Entrepreneurship meeting at GSA headquarters for more than 75 members of the veteran business community. Meeting attendees discussed ways to increase federal business opportunities for Veteran and Service Disabled Veteran Business Owners and how to navigate the veteran small business verification process.

Public Service Recognition Week honors the work of the men and women who serve our nation.

GSA has a strong track record when it expanding opportunities for veterans In fiscal year 2012, GSA exceeded its three percent goal to award at least three percent of its contracts to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses.

Contracting with Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses is a win for both the federal government and veteran-owned small businesses. The government receives great service, at tremendous value to the taxpayer, while disabled service members are given opportunities to grow their businesses and create jobs.

In addition, the program helps make connections between smaller businesses and more experienced contractors. The goal here is to develop our small business vendors into the best vendors possible, and the Mentor-Protege Program is a valuable tool to accomplish this need.

The discussion centered around ways to get the word out about:

The wide variety of federal agencies hiring, including domestic and international

employment opportunities;

Better understanding of the current status of the Veteran Department’s verification process for Veteran small businesses, and;

Upcoming Congressional legislative initiatives being considered in the House concerning Veteran small business.

The meeting was hosted by GSA in partnership with the Veterans’ Entrepreneurship Task Force. GSA will continue to reach out and support Veteran and Service Disabled Veteran Business Owners with more business opportunities.

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GSA’s Challenge.gov Among Harvard’s Ash Center’s ‘Top 25 Innovations in Government’

Matthew Burrell — Wed, 01 May 2013 21:25:58 +0000

Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance today announced GSA’s Challenge.gov as one of the Top 25 Innovations in Government. Challenge.gov is the federal government’s online portal for running challenge and prize competitions. Challenge.gov allows the government to crowdsource solutions to problems in a contest format, bringing diversity in solutions and contributors. This is a pay-for-performance model that saves money on key initiatives and broadly drives innovation within and beyond government.

Challenge.gov allows the government to crowdsource solutions to problems in a contest format, bringing diversity in solutions and contributors.

Launched on September 7, 2010, Challenge.gov has hosted more than 260 crowdsourcing competitions, in which federal agencies have awarded upwards of 200 prizes. It now averages six new challenge and prize competitions a month. Around 60 agencies have used the platform to help solve everything from stopping illegal robocalls to developing 100 miles-per-gallon vehicles. Agencies are increasingly turning to Challenge.gov to conduct software and apps challenges, to meet the vision of a more citizen-centric digital government.

The Innovations in American Government Award competition features government initiatives representing the dedicated efforts of city, state, federal, and tribal governments and addresses a host of policy issues including crime prevention, economic development, environmental and community revitalization, employment, education, and health care. Selected by a cohort of policy experts, researchers, and practitioners, four finalists and one winner of the Innovations in American Government Award will be announced in the Fall. Today’s DigitalGov blog describes other federal programs that were selected as finalists, including several programs that have conducted their own challenge and prize competitions and worked in partnership with the GSA Challenge.gov team.

The Innovations in American Government Award was created by the Ford Foundation in 1985 to shine a light on effective government programs. Since its inception, over 400 government innovations across all jurisdictional levels have been recognized.

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Celebrate Earth Day! Office of Government-wide Policy presents Climate Risk Preparation and Adaptation

Matthew Burrell — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:07:17 +0000

GSA’s National Capital Region Climate Risks Preparation and Adaptation Pilot was selected as a GreenGov Spotlight Community by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. A GreenGov Spotlight Community is represented when multiple federal partners, located within the same or nearby areas, work together to leverage resources in support and in achievement of the goals outlined in Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance.

GSA teamed with federal agencies that included the EPA, IRS, National Capital Planning Commission, U.S. Global Change Research Program, NOAA, NASA and the District of Columbia Government in evaluating the risks posed by the impacts of climate change to the IRS Headquarters building and a mission critical supply chain component. The team successfully established climate change adaptation priorities with the IRS customer, and established a process that is replicable to other federal buildings in the National Capital Region. To learn more, register here to join OGP and FAS for a GreenGov Spotlight Community webinar on April 30 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., EST.

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GSA Commemorates Earth Day

Matthew Burrell — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:39:18 +0000

Going green saves green and GSA is committed to making a sustainable government that reduces energy and water use in federal buildings, responsibly disposes of electronic waste, consolidates workspaces, and greens the federal fleet. To commemorate the 44th Earth Day, GSA will highlight its cost-saving efforts to reduce the government’s environmental impact.

GSA recently helped Navy Base Everett become the first Navy Base fleet in the nation to be 100 percent compliant in using alternative fueled vehicles.

Greening the Federal Fleet

GSA Acting Administrator Tangherlini recently announced a new GSA Fleet consolidation initiative to give federal agencies the opportunity to replace their aging fleet with hybrid vehicles. Through this initiative, GSA would expand the number of hybrid vehicles in the federal fleet by up to 10,000 vehicles, resulting in the reduction of approximately 1,000,000 gallons of fuel per year for the life of these vehicles. This is a significant opportunity to more efficiently manage fleet operations, create significant savings through fuel efficiency, and make government more sustainable.

In the Northwest Arctic Region, GSA recently helped Navy Base Everett become the first Navy Base fleet in the nation to be 100 percent compliant in using alternative fueled vehicles. The Navy installed an E85 fueling station so these vehicles can operate using alternate fuel. Northwest/Arctic Region Fleet Service Representatives Lee Heydlauff and Georgette Brock partnered with the Navy to complete this challenge as part of GSA’s ongoing effort to save agencies money and be sustainable.

Energy Efficiency

In addition to helping our customers meet their targets, GSA uses its leverage as the nation’s largest real estate broker to evaluate energy saving technologies for federal buildings. The Northwest/Arctic region recently installed a honeycomb solar hot water system on the roof of the Regional Administration Building as part of the “green proving ground” program and to support the agency’s commitment to sustainability and innovation.

GSA’s New England Region will host an Energy Saving Light Fair to help promote sustainability.

The honeycomb solar panels are a thermal system that uses the sun to heat water for use in the building. The technology is designed to help GSA meet the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) that requires that 30% of GSA’s hot water demand be met with solar hot water where cost effective. The honeycomb panels look like the name implies – there are crystal hexagonal “lenses” that focus the sun’s rays to amplify the energy. This type of collector panels works more effectively in diffuse light and in cold and temperate climate zones such as the Pacific Northwest.

The New England Region is helping support a more sustainable government by hosting an Energy Saving Light Fair on April 26th. Last year, nearly two thousand energy saving light bulbs were sold at the fair. The calculated savings from this figure alone is $50,000 in annual operating costs for a government agency, and nearly $250,000 on life cycle costs — the calculated savings for 2,000 bulbs assuming each bulb lasted five years. The air pollution reduction from using 2,000 less light bulbs and the fossil fuel they consume is equivalent to removing over 100 cars from the road.

Reducing Water Waste

In Denver, the Rocky Mountain Region has partnered with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in an effort to conserve water in their federal buildings. In the first year of this project they were able to save one million gallons of water in a single federal building. For its efforts with the cooling tower project the Rocky Mountain Region won a prestigious award from Council on Environmental Quality.

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GSA Earth Day Spotlight

Matthew Burrell — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:01:56 +0000

Ronnie Bent, a Workplace Executive in GSA’s Public Buildings Service in Chicago, talks how improvements in workplace design has helped contribute to a more efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective workplace in GSA’s Great Lakes Region. Watch the video to find out ways GSA is using mobility and workspace design elements to help other federal agencies more toward a more mobile, paperless, and environmentally friendly workplace.