GSA Steers More Office Supply Deals to Small Businesses

Advancing the Obama administration’s dual goals of expanding shared services and boosting small businesses, the General Services Administration on Tuesday announced 21 new contracts for agency purchases of pens, paper and printing work.

The move under the agency’s third generation of the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative went to companies all but one of which is a small business. They are expected to help save $90 million annually over previous contracts.

“The OS3 program is another positive step forward for GSA and federal agencies that rely on GSA’s solutions to get the best value for their procurement dollars,” said Tom Sharpe, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. “GSA is leveraging the government’s buying power while helping customer agencies make good use of purchasing data, procurement dollars and good business sense in meeting their missions.”

Under the third-generation of the program, administrative costs drop because of a “streamlined acquisition process and simplified contractual terms,” GSA said. The program’s enforcement of compliance with green purchasing and Trade Agreement Act requirements helps agencies achieve environmental and socioeconomic goals as well.

Purchasing officers benefit from standardized product descriptions for comparison shopping, and from point-of-sale compliance for automatic strategic sourcing discounts for purchase card users, GSA said.

The new initiative builds on OS2, which generated more than $370 million in savings and achieved a small business utilization rate of 75 percent.

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