“The General Services Administration (GSA) today explained a range of steps the agency is taking to advance equity and supplier diversity in Federal government procurement, including category management changes and commitments to help reduce contracting obstacles for small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs)…”
“In the category management arena, GSA said it is ‘conducting research, collecting feedback, and addressing barriers that keep SDBs from succeeding,’ in support of changes laid out by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in December that aim to increase Federal contracting opportunities for SDBs…”
“Separately, GSA detailed five public commitments that the agency said will help to reduce obstacles to SDBs, including:
- Creating its already-underway Polaris IT governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC);
- Simplifying how firms can obtain a multiple award schedule (MAS) contract;
- Creating post-award engagement strategies to help contractors new to the government;
- Establishing a supplier diversity plan that will include ‘a strategy and criteria for regular on-ramping relative to GWACs and multi-agency contracts’; and
- Improving e-tools that allow SDBs to better evaluate Federal marketplace opportunities…” Read the full article here.
Source: GSA Sets Further Steps on Supplier Equity, Diversity – By John Curran, April 18, 2022. MeriTalk.
