Most government agencies have common purchasing needs -- carpeting, furniture, office machine maintenance, petroleum products and perishable food supplies are just a few examples. Sometimes the government can realize economies of scale by centralizing the purchasing of certain types of products or services.
Procurement reform has ushered numerous new and/or modified acquisition vehicles -- multiple award contracts -- such as multi-agency contracts and government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs). These vehicles encourage long-term vendor agreements with fewer vendors.
The use of these contract vehicles, including expanded use of General Services Administration (GSA) schedules has increased significantly during the last few years. These popular vehicles allow government buyers to quickly fill requirements by issuing orders against existing contracts or schedules without starting a new procurement action from scratch. Further, agencies can competitively award several or multiple task order contracts to different firms for the same products and services. This practice allows federal buyers to issue orders to any one or combination of several firms with relative ease.
The three largest interagency consolidated purchasing programs are administered by the General Services Administration, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Information courtesy of the Small Business Administration.
