Third Generation FSSI Office Supply Solution

The Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative for Office Supplies Third Generation (FSSI OS3) is GSA’s latest FSSI solution for office supplies. Strategic Sourcing leverages the purchasing power of the entire federal government, reducing costs of goods and services and allowing for better service. FSSI OS3 is a purchasing channel solution that helps federal customers achieve significant savings on their office supply purchases, while also supporting the nation’s small businesses. OS3 is expected to provide more than $90 Million in annual savings captured through lower prices. The awards are the result of a collaborative team effort among customer agencies across the federal government. Under OS3 prices decrease as the collective purchases grow across the federal government. 

GSA has awarded multiple Indefinite Delivery-Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for office supply products and commodities through the purchasing channel acquisition. Twenty-three of the twenty-four awards have gone to small business entities. This solution provides a great opportunity to achieve significant savings and meet sustainable acquisition and other socioeconomic goals. In this critical time of reduced budgets, this cross-agency strategic sourcing initiative helps the government to leverage data, dollars and good business sense in meeting acquisition goals.

Additional benefits include:

• Capturing economies of scale; 
• Consolidating orders with the new delivery order discounts feature and save as discounts are triggered on individual orders;
• Ensuring compliance with applicable regulations to include the AbilityOne Program, sustainable purchasing requirements and the Trade Agreement Act;
• Fostering markets for sustainable technologies and environmentally preferable products;
• Simplifying data collection and enhancing transparency by enabling agencies to better manage expenditures and measure cost-savings;
• Aligning purchasing with existing agency procurement practices;
• Enabling achievement of socioeconomic goals;
• Providing ease of ordering; and
• Providing point of sale compliance, ensuring that purchase card users automatically receive the FSSI price.

GSA is firmly committed to this Administration’s efforts to realize better value and savings through strategic sourcing. The savings from FSSI OS have totaled more than $370 Million since 2010. The agency is also committed to increasing small business participation in strategic sourcing initiatives and OS3 is expected to increase the volume of spend going to small businesses, while also delivering government savings. Small businesses received 23 out of the 24 awards, which included awards to SDVOSBs, two consortia of small businesses and a HUBZone vendor. GSA estimates that more than $9 out of every $10 spent on OS3 purchasing will go to small business.

Strategic sourcing leverages the purchasing power of the entire federal government, reducing costs of goods and services and allowing for better service. OS3 will cut costs and increase efficiencies by providing everyday supplies like pens, paper, and printing items from a list of vendors with negotiated low prices.

FSSI’s previous office supplies vehicle, FSSI OS2, featured Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) with fifteen vendors. Thirteen of those vendors were small business entities. Those thirteen small businesses had participating dealer agreements with over 120 small businesses. OS2 reached a cumulative small business utilization rate of 75.4 percent, and these small businesses have seen sales of more than $822 Million since the inception of OS2 in 2010. FSSI OS2 was also a proponent of the federal government’s sustainability goals. In FY 2013, agencies purchased approximately $89 Million worth of recycled content products through the FSSI OS2, including approximately $19.5 Million worth of remanufactured toner cartridges.

Visit StrategicSourcing.Gov to see current sales and savings.

The shortcut to this page is www.gsa.gov/os3.