Food Service, Hospitality, Cleaning, Equipment and Supplies, Chemicals and Services
Added: Jun 12, 2018 1:01 pm
GSA MULTIPLE AWARD SCHEDULE (MAS) SOLICITATION. The Greater Southwest Acquisition Center, Fort Worth, Texas, is issuing a refreshed solicitation effective June 12, 2018 electronically.
This refresh incorporates provisions for Commercial Supplier Agreements (CSAs) and updated Wage Determinations.
GSA adopted as final, with changes, proposed rule 2015-G512 - Unenforceable Commercial Supplier Agreement (CSA) Terms on February 22, 2018. The GSAR has been amended to incorporate the final rule, which addresses common CSA terms and conditions that are inconsistent with or create ambiguity with federal law.
The upcoming Schedule solicitation refresh and mass modification is tentatively planned for June or July, 2018.
The rule addresses these common unenforceable terms within GSA deviated Commercial Items Clause 552.212-4.
This approach decreases the time needed for legal review prior to contract formation, significantly reduces costs to both the government and contractors, and further clarifies expectations for all parties. This rule is an important step to improve the acquisition process, and ensures that GSA's contracting vehicles remain the best-value solution for both federal agency customers and industry partners. Note the following significant changes:
GSAR 552.212-4(s)Reverts the order of precedence to move Addenda to the solicitation or contract, including any license agreements for computer software back to number 4, and Solicitation provisions of the solicitation and Other paragraphs of the clause back to number 5 and 6, respectively. Additionally, language was added to clarify the Commercial Supplier Agreements - Unenforceable Clauses provision takes precedence over the commercial supplier agreement terms and conditions.
GSAR 552.212-4(w)(1)(vi)Deletes the requirement for providing full text terms with the offer, adds a definition of a material change, and adds clarification on when a CSA must be bilaterally modified in the contract.
Existing versions of FAR clause 52.212-4 and GSAM clause 552.212-4 will be REPLACED, as applicable, with the following:
552.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items (JAN 2017) (DEVIATION - FEB 2007) (DEVIATION - FEB 2018)
552.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items (JAN 2017) (DEVIATION - FEB 2018) (ALTERNATE I - JAN 2017) (DEVIATION - FEB 2007)
On June 23, 2016, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) published a General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) final rule to capture transactional data on procurements across all of its Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) program contracts and Government-wide Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contracts, to include Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs). The Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) Rule requires vendors to electronically report the price the Federal Government paid for an item or service purchased through GSA acquisition vehicles.
As part of the strategic implementation of the rule across all GSA contracts, the agency will introduce the transactional data reporting requirement with a pilot of select products and services in the FSS program. This pilot was introduced in a phased approach beginning in August 2016.
Schedule 73 is participating in the pilot program.
Under this pilot, you will not be required to provide Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) disclosures identifying discounts, terms, and conditions offered to your commercial customers that equal or exceed the discounts , terms, and conditions offered to GSA. Additionally, the requirement to monitor price reduction violations through the Price Reductions clause tracking is removed. Thus, participation in the TDR pilot results in a substantial decrease in the paperwork burden for offerors submitting new offers under the Schedules in the TDR pilot.
Why is the GSA Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) implementing this change? The goals of TDR are to:
- Significantly reduce burden to industry partners by eliminating Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) disclosure and Price Reductions clause (PRC) tracking requirements from Schedule contracts participating in the TDR pilot.
- Reduce contract administration burden for TDR pilot vendors once TDR is implemented.
- Provide business intelligence to strengthen best value decision-making by ordering activities, which will allow customers to take full advantage of the wide variety and complexity of products and services offered by Schedule Partners and pass on savings to the taxpayer.
- Improve competition and increase transparency.
- Support category management and promote smarter buying.
The information below highlights the differences between a TDR pilot offer and a Traditional/Non-TDR offer:
Transactional Data Reporting Offer/ Award Requirements (TDR Pilot Offer):
- CSP disclosure is not required with submission of an offer or after award
- MFC/BOA information is not required with submission of an offer or after award
- No MFC/BOA is identified at time of award
- No MFC/BOA discount relationship is established at time of award, and tracking of price reductions is not required
- Vendor is not required to track price reduction violations pursuant to GSAR clause 552.238-75 Price Reductions (JUL 2016)
- Offer is evaluated in accordance with GSAR 538.270-2 Evaluation of offers with access to transactional data
- Vendors are required to report information on 11 transactional data elements (see GSAR clause 552.238-74 Industrial Funding Fee and Sales Reporting (MAY 2014)(ALT I - JUN 2016))
- Transactional data reporting is required on a monthly basis, due 30 days after the end of each month
- Contractors are not required to report total aggregate contract sales, by SIN, on a quarterly basis, due 30 days after the end of each quarter
- IFF must be remitted no later than 30 days after the end of each business quarter
Traditional Offer/Award Requirements (Non-TDR Offers):
- CSP disclosure must be submitted with offer, with certain modification requests, and may be required prior to exercise of option periods
- MFC/BOA information must be submitted with offer and with certain modification requests
- MFC/BOA is identified at time of award
- MFC/BOA price/discount relationship is established at time of award and must be maintained throughout the life of the contract
- Vendor is required to track price reduction violations pursuant to GSAR clause 552.238-75 Price Reductions (JUL 2016)
- Offer is evaluated in accordance with GSAR 538.270-1 Evaluation of offers without access to transactional data
- Vendors are notmrequired to report information on 11 transactional data elements (see GSAR clause 552.238-74 Industrial Funding Fee and Sales Reporting (MAY 2014)(ALT I - JUN 2016))
- Transactional data reporting is not required on a monthly basis, due 30 days after the end of each month
Contractors are required to report total aggregate contract sales, by SIN, on a quarterly basis, due 30 days after the end of each quarter
- IFF must be remitted no later than 30 days after the end of each business quarter
Notice: The GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program has recently experienced a tremendous increase in new offers. Due to the large number of new offers currently in process, it could take up to 12 months before your offer is evaluated.
GSA's practice is to evaluate offers in the order in which they are received. However, GSA may give priority to processing certain offers when circumstances dictate, such as when a federal agency Contracting Officer specifically requests an expedited offer review in order to meet a pending requirement that will be procured under the MAS program, or when there a need for GSA to bring strategically critical new products or services to market in order to meet federal customer needs.
This solicitation includes the following product/services: FSC Group 68: Chemicals and Chemical Products; FSC Group 72: Recycling Collection Containers and Waste Receptacles; FSC Group 73: Food Service Equipment, Supplies, and Services; FSC Group 79: Cleaning Equipment, Accessories, Janitorial Supplies, Cleaning Chemicals, and Sorbents; and FSC Group 85: Toiletries, Personal Care Items, Linens, and Lodging and Hospitality Supplies and Services, and Hospitality Wear. This solicitation is issued electronically only. This is a standing solicitation with no closing date for receipt of offers.
The solicitation will remain in effect until it is replaced by a refreshed solicitation. The Federal Supply Schedule period is continuous; contract periods commence on the date of award (DOA) and expire five years from the DOA unless further extended pursuant to option clause, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (Evergreen), which allows the Government to extend the contract three additional five-year periods, not to exceed a total of twenty years. All contracts will be indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts with a $2500 guaranteed minimum for the contract period. All contracts to be awarded include Industrial Funding provisions. The Trade Agreements Act applies to this solicitation. Small Business Set-Aside provisions will be addressed in the individual product/services attachments to the solicitation. The section at the beginning of the Vendor Response Document providing instructions for submitting a paper offer should be disregarded; Schedule 73 is a mandatory eOffer schedule, effective with Refresh 10. Interested parties may access the solicitation at: http://www.fedbizopps.gov. This site provides instructions for downloading the solicitation files. Search using Solicitation Number 7FCM-C4-030073-B (include the dashes).
For information regarding the solicitation, please contact Haley Naegele at haley.naegele@gsa.gov or 817-850-8444 or Stephen Nieswiadomy at stephen.nieswiadomy@gsa.gov or 817-850-8378.
7FCM-C4-030073-B GSA Federal Acquisition Service
6/12/18, 1:01 PM