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Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2007
Performance Section
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Federal Acquisition Service

In response to changes in the marketplace and in order to better serve GSA’s customers, the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) was established through the consolidation of the Federal Technology Service (FTS) and the Federal Supply Service (FSS). FAS is organized around four business portfolios that deliver total solutions to customer agencies. These portfolios are: Integrated Technology Services (ITS); Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS); General Supplies and Services (GSS); and Travel, Motor Vehicle, and Card Services (TMVCS). The new organization is aimed to provide the best value at the best price through strategic sourcing, faster contracting services, greater efficiency and flexibility in procurement processes, lower transaction costs, and smarter ways of doing business. The result of the restructuring will yield significant organizational efficiencies, and increase Agency savings.

FAS is the premier acquisition source in the areas of supplies, services, technology, and fleet management. It manages the largest, most diverse, and innovative Federal marketplace in the world and has nearly 18,000 Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts. FAS offers approximately 12 million supplies and services to customer agencies, more than any commercial enterprise in the world, and is located throughout the United States as well as strategically aligned with U.S. military customers around the globe.

FAS’s high priority is its Federal customer. FAS continues to:

  • look for ways to streamline its procurement processes and tools to increase its value to customers;
  • leverage the government’s buying power while enhancing its central role in Federal procurement;
  • meet unique support requirements of global customers;
  • outreach and increase customer education efforts and improve market research capabilities;
  • participate in multiple interagency groups as well as industry forums;
  • work within the changing GSA structure (maintain flexibility as the reorganization is finalized; balance organizational needs against the customer needs).

In FY 2007, ITS demonstrated GSA’s commitment to increas-ing contracting opportunities for small firms owned by service-disabled veterans, while also completing a major acquisition of integrated information technology (IT) solutions. Specifically, more than $47 million in obligated sales accrued for IT services available from service-disabled veteran-owned firms on the Veterans Technology Services (VETS) Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC).

Performance Highlights

FAS completed PART reviews for all of its major program areas. The ratings are as follows: GSS, Vehicle Acquisition, Travel Management, and AAS are rated “adequate”; Vehicle Leasing (Fleet), Personal Property, Transportation Management, National Furniture Center, and ITS are rated “moderately effective”; and Charge Card Services is rated “effective.”

Program improvements, as recommended by OMB, were implemented for each major area of FAS. For example, GSS instituted Procurement Management Reviews (PMR) in each Acquisition Center. PMRs ensure compliance with Federal acquisition policies, regulations, and procedures. Personal Property is currently working on a process improvement initiative to develop an electronic approval process for utilization and donation (U&D) transfers and plans to implement the process in FY 2008. The National Furniture Center conducted an extensive review of its business practice and began implementation of the first phase of a new business model that will streamline operations and achieve greater organizational efficiency. Fleet continues to work with U.S. Army representatives to pilot a fleet management database for Army’s non-GSA vehicles. Travel Management acquired a Travel Management Data Reporting Service (TMDRS) contract. The TMDRS ensures better government-wide data collection and improved travel management. Transportation Management developed Transportation Management Services Solution (TMSS) to meet customers’ needs for a fully integrated end-to-end system that provides all transportation needs, including auditing and payment. The Charge Card Services (SmartPay2®) program office is updating and refining its training materials, and developing guidance for government cardholders on the appropriate use of charge cards in emergencies. Four transition training sessions were held to include customer agencies such as the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). An acquisition is now underway to bring in outside expertise to support portfolio management within AAS.

AAS developed an aggressive improvement strategy to address design flaws and increase efficiency and effectiveness. In July 2007, AAS implemented a nationwide pricing policy that ensured a consistent fee for services among all regional AAS offices.

Independent evaluations were conducted for Fleet’s Loss Prevention Program. Fleet developed a database to record Voyager charges. The result of the audit indicates that the database has greatly enhanced Fleet’s ability to monitor transactions and track expenditures. No other independent evaluations were held this fiscal year.

The paragraphs below summarize FY 2007 FAS major performance results by portfolio.

GENERAL SUPPLIES AND SERVICES:

  • The Global Supply product line was expanded to include Expanded Direct Delivery (EDD) of IT products in several categories: desktops, notebooks, servers, printers, accessories, memory, modems, monitors, network products, scanners, and storage devices. EDD allows agencies to order through a single point of sale. It also gives them a real-time capability to see the products offered and available inventory, as well as check order status and track orders. Orders are then shipped directly from the vendor to the customer. Global Supply deployed IT EDD in the first quarter of FY 2007. The program generated an average of $750,000 in sales per month and totaled $6.7 million for the year.

PERSONAL PROPERTY:

  • In April 2007, GSA’s Office of Personal Property Management implemented a re-engineered Computers for Learning (CFL) Web application that allows Federal agencies to report excess computers to GSAXcess® —the in-place computer system for the disposal processing of all excess property, including computers. By placing the CFL database on the GSAXcess® platform, GSA has reduced internal costs of operations. The new Web site is designed to make it easier to increase the number of excess computers and peripherals transferred by Federal agencies to schools as well as expand the number of schools that receive computer equipment through the CFL program. Since its implementation, the re-engineered system added 101 new schools and educational non-profit organizations and transferred computer equipment valued at $32 million. Using the re-engineered system, schools are now able to view available computers and related peripherals and request these items virtually. It enables school principles to be closer to fulfilling their vision of having a computer in every classroom. Used consistently, the CFL program reduces the administrative burden of managing a Federal computer donation program and is an efficient way for agencies to track and report statistics that highlight the value of Federal computer donations to eligible schools and educational non-profit organizations. In addition, it was awarded the Office of Governmentwide Policy’s (OGP) Gold Star Award for Excellence. The Gold Star Award recognizes a Federal agency’s innovative implementation of Executive Order 12999 that, in part, allows Federal agencies to transfer excess computer equipment to schools from pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

VEHICLE ACQUISITION:

  • GSA Automotive purchases vehicles for all Federal agencies. Over 60 percent of the purchases have been made by GSA Fleet. GSA is able to leverage the Federal government’s vehicle requirements resulting in discounts exceeding 30 percent below dealer invoice on many of the top selling models, creating huge savings for customer agencies and ultimately the taxpayer.
  • In FY 2007, GSA Automotive announced a new sales record. As of September 15, 2007, orders for 65,295 vehicles were processed valued at $1.3 billion. Of the orders placed, over 24,000 were for flexfuel vehicles that are capable of running on a combination of E-85 and gasoline. GSA Automotive has purchased over 140,000 alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) for Federal agencies since 1991, of which 120,000 have been for GSA Fleet.
  • The program area is also working with the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) National Park Service to procure alternative fueled mass transportation systems in order to reduce vehicular congestion and subsequent pollution within the parks. GSA Automotive awarded a contract for 20 liquid compressed natural gas powered low floor shuttle buses for Grand Canyon National Park. The buses are scheduled to be delivered to the South Rim in the summer of 2008. In addition, GSA Automotive has made recent awards covering hybrid electric buses for Yosemite National Park and buses for Glacier National Park that will be powered by biodiesel.

VEHICLE LEASING:

  • GSA Fleet grows through transferring vehicle ownership and management responsibilities of other Federal agencies’ fleets to GSA. Since 1985, Fleet consolidations have been a smart solution for the Federal government, with FY 2007 savings to taxpayers exceeding $1.2 billion. Customer agencies are finding it more difficult to own and operate a fleet. GSA is able to provide significant savings to customer agencies by offering full service fleet operations at competitive prices with superior service. GSA consistently delivers fleet services at discounts at least 27 percent less than the private sector and, in FY 2007, exceeded this standard by achieving a discount rate of 42 percent. The majority of vehicles consolidated into GSA Fleet save customers and taxpayers over $810 per vehicle, per year.
  • At year-end FY 2007, the GSA fleet stands at 209,051 vehicles. Almost one-third consists of AFVs and HEVs. Since 1991, GSA has purchased more than 140,000 of these vehicles, including more than 21,000 AFVs and HEVs ordered in FY 2007. AFVs make up 57 percent of Fleet’s acquisitions versus a government-wide average of 29 percent. According to the 2007 Automotive Fleet: Alternative-Fuel Supplement, GSA Fleet ranked number one out of the Top 100 Alternative-Fueled Fleets in 2007.

TRAVEL:

  • To standardize, ensure compliance, and reduce operating costs, the E-Gov Travel System’s government-wide utilization of end-to-end travel management solutions continued to increase. By the end of FY 2007, over 82 Executive branch agencies entered into agreements to acquire E-Gov Travel System services. As of the end of FY 2007, 41 agencies processed all of their travel transactions through the E-Gov Travel System. In addition, online booking exceeded original projections, with multiple agencies exceeding 70 percent of all transactions being booked online.
  • This year GSA negotiated City Pairs program contracts to more than 4,900 destinations at an average cost of 67 percent below full commercial airline fares. The City Pairs program offers discounted airfares to Federal travelers with flexible benefits. A few of the benefits the City Pairs program offers include: no advance purchase required, no minimum or maximum stay required, tickets fully refundable, and stable prices that enable travel budgeting. GSA has estimated savings for FY 2007 at $4 billion. The number of Federal trips was between five million and 10 million a year and the use of City Pairs program increased from 60 percent to approximately 90 percent.

TRANSPORTATION:

  • To reduce costs to Federal agencies for shipping services, GSA announced the first Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) award for express and ground domestic delivery services (ExGDDS), a blanket purchase agreement off the Transportation Delivery Relocation Solutions Schedule. FSSI ExGDDS was awarded with a procurement value of over $100 million and estimated government-wide savings of $10 million. This award will enable the Federal government to realize significant savings and incur no fuel surcharges on their domestic shipments. The award also provides management information reports to enable agencies to manage shipments more efficiently and implement commercial best practices for additional cost reductions.

CHARGE CARD SERVICES:

  • GSA SmartPay2® is the largest government charge card program in the world. It makes it easier and faster for GSA customers to purchase and pay for goods and services. Using the cards also saves significant administrative time and money. Studies show that customers avoid administrative costs of $54 to $92 per transaction with a GSA SmartPay2® purchase card instead of a written purchase order. This equates to an estimated savings to the government of more than $1.8 billion per year.

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY SERVICES:

The FAS’s ITS organization provides acquisition services that deliver timely, quality, best value information technology (IT) solutions to customer agencies. The organization integrates GSA’s comprehensive IT and telecommunications programs into a single FAS business portfolio that unifies planning and development of all technology acquisitions. This portfolio integrates major elements of the legacy FTS, with the IT MAS Schedule 70 segment of the legacy FSS, and GWAC Centers.

ITS awarded several new contracts for network services to support government-wide telecommunications needs well into the future. Specifically:

  • In March 2007, ITS awarded Networx Universal contracts to meet the Federal government’s telecommunications and networking requirements for the next decade. National and regional support will be available to customers to help transition to the new flagship GSA Networx contracts, while continuing to deliver services valued at almost $1.4 billion in FY 2007 to users at 135 Federal agencies and entities at 15,000 locations in more than 190 countries.
  • In May 2007, ITS awarded Networx Enterprise contracts for its customers with additional flexibility and choice for voice, Internet protocol, wireless, satellite, and net-centric communications services. In addition, ITS awarded SATCOM-II contracts to provide Federal and defense agencies with the next generation of high quality, worldwide satellite communications solutions.
  • In July 2007, ITS awarded a new Federal Relay Service support contract to provide intermediary assistance between hearing individuals and those who are speech and/or hearing-impaired through telephonic and Internet-based support services. These important services broaden employment and advancement opportunities for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, and/or have speech disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities in the workplace, while also making the services of Federal departments and agencies fully accessible to those Americans who are speech and/or hearing-impaired.
  • The IT MASs expanded and now offer many standards-compliant products and supporting services packaged to meet agency requirements supporting the HSPD-12. In April 2007, ITS awarded a new Shared Services Provider contract that delivered a substantial cost savings to its Managed Service Office (MSO) customers—reducing customer costs to $82 per HSPD-12 compliant card. With commitments from 63 Federal departments, agencies, and commissions, this new acquisition will generate millions of dollars in cost savings for GSA’s customers as they implement HSPD-12.
  • Several new strategic sourcing agreements executed through the ITS SmartBUY program office offer tremendous opportunities for agencies to reduce IT security threats at reduced costs to users. An agreement reached this year, in collaboration with DoD, delivered improved desktop and critical “data at rest” security solutions at great discounts. The “data at rest” agreements in particular have been very well received as a solution to a growing information security threat open to all levels of government nationwide. Also in FY 2007, collective purchases by the Social Services Administration and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of more than 350 thousand “data at rest” product licenses are estimated to yield aggregate savings across those agencies of more than $8.7 million. In addition, agreements completed in December were the first awards made within the Federal government for antivirus software that meets the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 standard for software encryption. A recent DoD purchase through SmartBUY for the entire Department (4 million seats) offers discounted pricing at 90 percent off GSA Schedule prices.

ASSISTED ACQUISITION SERVICES:

  • In FY 2007, the FAS Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM) awarded a $90.5 million contract to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with a new Web-based supply chain management system. This system involves over $2.4 billion in commodity purchases and will manage food distribution programs such as the school lunch program. The different programs using this system will take part in serving over 30 million Americans and 280 million people overseas. Replacing an antiquated system, the new system will let USDA, its customers, and suppliers electronically bid, award, and pay for commodities, and dramatically improve the management of their inventory and distribution through the Internet.
  • The FEDSIM team was a recipient of DOE’s 2007 Secretarial Small Business Award. An integrated team of DOE, National Nuclear Security Administration, and FAS FEDSIM team won the Federal Small Business Innovation Award. The team awarded a $142 million Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), of which a significant sum was transferred from large businesses to small businesses in the first 60 days of the BPA. One of the major initiatives for the Federal government is to support small business infrastructure in the United States.

The following section presents the FAS performance by GSA strategic goals.

FAS Performance By GSA Strategic Goals

 

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