GSA Schedule/Commercial Items

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On April 27, 2021, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced its intention to not only continue but expand the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) pilot program, based on a third consecutive year of positive results.

Since 2016, GSA’s pilot has studied the potential for TDR to replace the various onerous requirements FSS

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In the latest phase of a case proving that there is no amount of anticompetitive activity too small to escape prosecution, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice is continuing its efforts to thwart anticompetitive activity in public procurements, striking a plea deal with a Missouri individual in connection with rigging bids at online

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On June 27, 2018, in Appeal of CiyaSoft Corporation, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals held that the Government can be bound by terms of a commercial software license agreement that the contracting officer (CO) has neither negotiated nor seen.  CiyaSoft Corporation (CiyaSoft) submitted a claim asserting that the Army had breached its contract to purchase computer software by using more copies of the software than were permitted by the contract.  The Army denied the claim, in part, because the contract contained no terms specifying how the government would secure and protect the software.  Instead, CiyaSoft had included license terms limiting the software’s use (i) inside the box containing the CDs with the software, (ii) on a piece of paper inside the software’s shrinkwrap, and (iii) in clickwrap that was displayed during the software’s installation process.  On appeal, the Board found that although the contract included no license terms and the CO never saw or discussed with CiyaSoft the license terms that accompanied the software delivery, the CO had a duty to inquire about what use rights applied to the software and the failure to do so imputed knowledge of the licensing terms on the Army.  Pointing to the longstanding policy embodied in the FAR that that the government should accept commercial computer license terms that are customarily provided to other purchasers, the Board held that “the government can be bound by the terms of a commercial software license it has neither negotiated nor seen prior to the receipt of the software, so long as the terms are consistent with those customarily provided by the vendor to other purchasers and do not otherwise violate federal law.”
Continue Reading Commercial License Terms May Govern Even Without Contracting Officer Knowledge

The final year of the Obama Administration has seen a flurry of activity that will affect the government contracting community.  Appearing on WJLA’s Government Matters program (available here at govtmatters.tv), Crowell & Moring Chair Angela Styles discussed some of the latest changes that will impact industry including the GSA’s final rule on transactional

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Beginning in June 2016, GSA will remove current wage determinations from existing MAS Schedules and require ordering agencies to incorporate determinations at the task order level to ensure that the “most recent” wage determinations are incorporated when an individual task order is placed.  The recently announced change is part of GSA’s plan to “update” the

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Earlier this week, the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) announced a seismic shift in policy that opens VA Schedule 65 IB to covered drugs that do not comply with the Trade Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. §2501 et seq.) (“TAA”).  While the VA’s prior policy prohibited contractors from offering TAA non-compliant drugs from on  a Federal

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The General Services Administration (“GSA”) is rolling out two modifications to its Contractor Assistance Visits (“CAVs”), in-person or virtual meetings between GSA’s Industrial Operations Analysts (“IOAs”) and GSA Schedule holders to assess compliance, identify potential problems, and test the contractor’s system controls and processes.  Tom Brady, the Director of the Supplier Management Division, GSA Office of Acquisition Management, presented on these changes during The Coalition for Government Procurement’s webinar on March 12, 2015.

First, GSA will no longer grade contractors on report cards.  GSA’s current practice is to issue a MAS Administrative Report Card following each CAV.  This grade was supposed to reflect how well a contractor was complying with its contract’s terms and conditions.  But contractors had expressed concern that some interpreted the grade more generally to contract performance.  In response to this concern, GSA will discontinue grading its contractors on report cards (and relatedly, commits to providing contractors feedback from the CAV more expeditiously).
Continue Reading GSA Announces Changes in its Contractor Assistance Visits

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On Wednesday, September 9th at 12 PM Eastern, join our government contracts attorneys for a webinar entitled: “Mitigating Trade Agreements Act Risks for GSA Schedule Holders.” During this 60-minute webinar, we will provide an overview of the GSA Schedule contract requirements related to the Trade Agreements Act (“TAA”), review recent enforcement actions by the government

On March 13, 2014, the Department of Defense issued a memorandum titled “Class Deviation – Determination of Fair and Reasonable Prices When Using Federal Supply Schedule Contracts.”  This memorandum directs DoD contracting officers to make their own determination of fair and reasonable pricing when using Federal Supply Schedules (also known as GSA or VA Schedule contracts), rather than rely on the fair and reasonable price determination made by GSA when GSA awards Schedule contracts.    Specifically, the memorandum establishes a class deviation to FAR 8.404(d) that will be applicable to DoD entities buying off Schedule contracts.  This deviation provides that “GSA has determined the prices of supplies and fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates, to be fair and reasonable for the purpose of establishing the schedule contract.”  But then it states:
Continue Reading GSA Schedule Contracting: Has Selling to DoD Just Gotten Harder?