The GSA is Launching a New Government-wide E-Commerce Portal
By Debbie Gregory.
The new GSA Portal is Scheduled for late 2019 and selling to the federal government is about to get easier!
A new E-Commerce platform that will make it easier for government agencies to buy commercial products is in its final stages and is about ready to launch! Built over the last few years by the General Services Administration (GSA) with assistance from the Office of Management and Budget, the platform is slated to launch late in 2019. The GSA is focused on continuously improving how the federal government buys and sells goods and by modernizing the experience it will reduce the burden on small businesses, the agencies themselves, and create greater value for taxpayers.
This new system will allow agencies to quickly browse and purchase a wide range of commercial goods without having to go through the lengthy government procurement process that they do now. The goal of this new E-Commerce platform is to make it easier and less expensive for businesses to sell items, such as tools, hardware, and office supplies, to federal agencies.
The portal will follow the traditional E-marketplace model which will allow third-party vendors to sell goods on the platform. The new portal will launch with a handful of hand-picked agencies at the end of the calendar year in 2019 with the ultimate goal of scaling it up government-wide, if it is successful, by mid 2020. These agencies will be allowed to buy goods that cost less than the federal “micro-purchase threshold” – which is currently set at $10,000.
The platform is also being built to remove barriers for small businesses who wish to sell to federal agencies and allow them to compete with traditional larger government vendors. Currently there is not a specific number for how many vendors will be a part of the program at its launch. GSA is confident that the new E-Commerce platform will provide agencies more choice and better vendor performance. The program will help prevent monopolies on government purchases as well as give smaller businesses opportunities to compete.
VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association encourages all members to take advantage of this new platform.
Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,
