GSA Launches New Shared Office Supplies Purchasing

The General Services Administration is free to inaugurate its long-planned shared services office supplies contract vehicle now that the Government Accountability Office has rejected all bid protests.

GAO on Dec. 4 lifted a “stay of performance” for the so-called Third Generation OS3 solution, and the contract vehicle is “ready for business,” GSA said.

“In this critical time of reduced budgets, GSA is working diligently on strategic initiatives to include FSSI, the Common Acquisition Platform (CAP), and category management to leverage data, dollars and good business sense in helping the government buy smarter to meet its goals,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Tom Sharpe in a statement. “The evolution of the GSA Office Supplies FSSI solution is a great example of how the government can improve on an already great program with each iteration, increasing the savings to taxpayers through lessons learned and best practices.”

The vehicle, he added, will also ensure “that we are maximizing small business opportunities” while producing savings projected at $90 million a year.

Agency purchases of pens, paper and printed items from a pre-determined list of vendors already saved taxpayers more than $370 million since 2010 under the previous generation of the shared services vehicle, the agency said. Small businesses were used in 20 of 21 awards.

(Image via Mariusz Szczygiel / Shutterstock.com)