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The Office of Acquisition and Grants (OAG) is the principal procurement office of SSA. Seth Binstock is the Associate Commissioner for Acquisition and Grants and Christian Hellie is the Acting Deputy Associate Commissioner for Acquisition and Grants.

The Office of the Associate Commissioner has overall responsibility for the award and administration of contracts and grants for SSA.

The Office of Information Technology Acquisition, whose Acting Director is Pamela Kontz, is responsible for acquisition of information technology products and related services.

The Office of Operations Contracts, directed by John Andrews, is responsible for acquisition of facilities services and acquisition of all other non-IT products and services.

The Office of Acquisition Support, directed by Allyson Stokes, provides acquisition policy and cost analysis audit support to OAG. This office also administers the purchase card program.

Regional Contracting Officers are responsible for the acquisition needs specific to the SSA field offices in their regions.

Important Alerts

Message from Acting Commissioner Colvin to SSA Contractors
"Employing People with Disabilities"


SSA Vendor Repository

This document provides instructions on how vendors can submit information to be included in the newly created SSA vendor database. This database will be used for COTR market research.

System for Award Management (SAM)

The System for Award Management (SAM) is a Federal Government-owned and -operated free website that consolidates the capabilities in CCR/FedReg, ORCA, and EPLS.

There is no charge for registration in SAM.

Attention - Prime Contractors and Small Business Subcontractors

On July 11, 2012, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Memorandum M-12-16, "Providing Prompt Payment to Small Business Subcontractors," to further the goal established in OMB's September 14, 2011 Memorandum M-11-32, "Accelerated Payments to Small Business for Goods and Services."

Memorandum M-12-16 (as extended by OMB Memorandums M-13-15, M-14-10, and M-17-13, “Extension of Policy to Provide Accelerated Payment to Small Business Subcontractors,” until December 31, 2017) established a policy for Federal agencies to accelerate payments to all prime contractors allowing them to accelerate payments to their small business subcontractors. Consistent with Memorandum M-11-32, the goal was to make payments to all prime contractors quickly upon receipt of a proper invoice and required documentation.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) now requires agencies to: take measures to ensure prime contractors pay small business subcontractors on an accelerated timetable to the maximum extent practicable upon receipt of accelerated payments from the Government; and include FAR clause 52.232-40, "Providing Accelerated Payments to Small Business Subcontractors," in all solicitations and contracts.  The clause requires:

Prime contractors to make accelerated payments to their small business subcontractors to the maximum extent practicable upon receipt of accelerated payments from the Government, and prior to when such payments are required under the contract or subcontract after receipt of a proper invoice and other required documentation. 

Additionally, prime contractors are to include this clause in all subcontracts with small business concerns.

NOTE: This acceleration does not provide any new rights under the Prompt Payment Act (PPA) and does not affect the application of the Prompt Payment Act's (PPA) late-payment interest penalty provisions.  Under the PPA, when an agency does not pay the contractor the amount due by "the required payment date", it triggers an interest penalty. This acceleration does not modify the "required payment date" and does not otherwise modify the operation of the interest penalty.

Please direct questions to the Office of Acquisition and Grants, Division of Acquisition Policy and Purchase Card Administration at (410) 965-9478.

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