On Monday, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced major changes to the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program. The changes include allowing contracts that fail to meet sales thresholds to expire, removing items with insufficient customer demand, addressing contractor noncompliance, and reducing procurement redundancies. These changes are foundational to, as GSA stated, rightsizing the program to prioritize value and fiscal responsibility.
As Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum highlighted, “[b]y refocusing the program on the items and services the government is actually buying, we can help our industry partners maximize their time and efforts while providing the best pricing possible for these mission critical needs.”
The MAS program contracts are awarded at fair and reasonable prices and promote the best pricing possible through competition at the task and delivery order level for agency specific requirements. Indeed, as GSA’s announcement notes, competition at the order level secures additional savings for customer agencies. Our March 7th FAR &Beyond blog highlights the key features in structuring requirements to achieve the best possible value or price. These features are universal and apply to structuring Requests for Quotes (RFQs) for task and delivery order competitions under the MAS program. The steps announced on Monday will simplify MAS contract operations, freeing customer agencies to more efficiently and effectively structure requirements for order level competitions and, correspondingly, empowering contractors to more efficiently and effectively compete for agency requirements.