Ordering Officials under CONNECTIONS are called Designated Agency Officials (DAOs). DAO ordering authority is stated in Section G.2.3 of the CONNECTIONS contract. The contract provides for committed service at every level and offers the following options:
Customers can interact directly with the CONNECTIONS Awardees. In this scenario, the agency is responsible for all aspects of the acquisition where GSA provides the contract vehicle. The customer agency contracting office or other designated entity appoints the DAO who will be subject to the rules, regulations, and conditions promulgated and enforced by that customer agency.
GSA can assume the role of the DAO and take on all of the associated responsibilities on behalf of an agency. This allows an agency to avoid going through an acquisition process themselves and focus on more mission critical tasks.
There is no need to receive GSA approval to issue a CONNECTIONS order as long as the Ordering Official has been delegated to place orders by the ordering authority within his or her agency or organization.
CONNECTIONS Ordering Official responsibilities include: