PSC Urges GSA to Embrace Unpriced GSA Schedule


Arlington, Va. (Nov. 11, 2020) In a presentation to a General Services Administration (GSA) “listening session” on November 9, PSC Executive Vice President and Counsel Alan Chvotkin urged GSA to “take full and rapid advantage of the flexibilities provided by Congress in 2018 to allow for GSA Schedules contracts to be awarded without vendors submitting pricing for services to be acquired on an hourly basis. While there are “innumerable issues related to the application of the statute to the Schedules, there are only a few clearly wrong answers,” Chvotkin added.

Section 876 of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), enacted on August 13, 2018, provides federal agencies with authority to not evaluate price when making a contract award for certain services to be acquired on an hourly basis, as along as price is considered in the evaluation of any task or delivery order award under such contract. In an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) published August 19, 2020, GSA sought public comments on a number of questions regarding the application of Section 876 to the Federal Supply Schedule. GSA is conducting a series of “listening sessions” to receive public input, including comments on questions GSA raised in the ANPR. The November 9 session was the fourth of five scheduled sessions; the last session will be held on November 17. 

Congress provided such authority to DoD, NASA and GSA in the Fiscal Year 2017 NDAA; Congress extended the authority to all federal agencies through Section 876 of the Fiscal Year 2018 NDAA, but with certain limitations. GSA has already implemented the authority granted by Section 876 to its ID/IQ contracts, except for the GSA Schedules. 

“PSC has long advocated for bypassing pricing at contract formation for Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts, and we are pleased to see implementation progressing,” Chvotkin said. “The Schedules should be the next area for implementation,” he said.  

Click here for a PDF of this release. 
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About PSC: PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s more than 400 member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks. To learn more, visit www.pscouncil.org.