The $787 billion economic stimulus package could be the saving grace for the General Services Administration's federal supply schedules, which have seen sluggish sales growth in recent years.

Have a stimulus-funded repair and maintenance need at your facility? There is a schedule for that. Need to green a building or audit energy use? There's a schedule for that. Want to upgrade your accounting system to report on all that stimulus spending? A schedule for that, too.

"When you look at the Recovery Act, there are common themes and our schedules play well," said Amanda Fredriksen, Office of Strategic Planning director for GSA's Federal Acquisition Service. The Federal Acquisition Service oversees the Multiple Award Schedules program, where agencies can order supplies and services under GSA-awarded contracts.

Schedule sales increased 22 percent between fiscal 2003 and fiscal 2004, but the rate of growth has declined ever since. Fiscal 2008 sales were $36.6 billion, a 2 percent increase from the previous year, according to a Federal Times analysis by FedSources Inc., a McLean, Va., market research firm.

But GSA is optimistic sales will increase as agencies scramble to spend stimulus dollars over the next two years.

The General Supplies and Services Office — which manages schedules for building maintenance, construction supplies, energy audits and a variety of consulting and administrative support services — was already projecting a 6 percent annual growth in its sales for fiscal 2009 and 2010, said Joe Jeu, assistant Federal Acquisition Service commissioner for general supplies and services. The Recovery Act's requirements should ensure this growth, if not make it stronger, especially in 2010 when stimulus spending will be in full swing, he said.

In addition to growth in perennially popular areas like professional services, financial management, project management and acquisition support, Jeu expects to see strong sales under schedules for building supplies, maintenance and management.

Jeu said he thinks customers will turn to GSA's pre-competed contracts for stimulus needs because they offer better prices than individual contracts would. GSA schedule contracts take advantage of the government's collective buying power to drive down prices, Jeu said. Because the contracts are already in place, customers can spend money with speed, while meeting Recovery Act requirements for competition and transparency.

‘Issue of talent'

Martha Johnson, President Barack Obama's choice to lead GSA, discussed the issue of past poor performance and lost sales at her June 3 confirmation hearing. The agency must address its lack of consistent leadership and lack of acquisition personnel, she told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

If confirmed, Johnson will be the fifth administrator GSA has had in 14 months, she said.

"It is my belief GSA has to have leadership settled and established; then we can have a more aggressive stance around productivity and performance," Johnson testified.

GSA's past contracting performance is "very much based on this issue of talent and [size of] the acquisition work force," Johnson told Federal Times after the hearing. "My approach, if I am confirmed, is to work on the talent issues."

"That's the handle I can pull quickly" to improve performance to a level that will attract customers back to the agency, she said.

The stimulus package also will play a role in demonstrating GSA is responsible, Johnson said. The agency received $5.5 billion to modernize federal buildings and $300 million buy fuel-efficient vehicles. "It's a huge moment for GSA to have such a boost in terms of responsibility of funding," she said.

Marketing the schedules

To attract agencies' stimulus-related spending on its schedules, GSA is creating a special page on its Web site that will highlight construction and facilities maintenance offerings, Jeu said. "Customers are looking for total solutions, ... products as well as services," Jeu said. "We're trying to make it easier for customers to look for a total solution."

But some stimulus customers may not find the total solutions they need on the schedules, said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer of FedSources.

Under the 1972 Brooks Act, GSA cannot provide architecture and engineering services for building construction and repair through the schedules. Agencies interested in total solutions may not want to use schedules to buy energy audits or supplies to retrofit their buildings if they cannot also get needed architecture and engineering services, Bjorklund said.

Proposed legislation also could boost schedules' sales related to the stimulus, however. The Enhanced Oversight of State and Local Economic Recovery Act, which passed the House on May 19, would allow state and local governments to use GSA's schedules to spend stimulus funding.

In 2003, Congress first allowed state and local governments to buy from GSA's popular information technology schedule. In 2007, Congress permitted them to buy from any GSA schedule for disaster recovery if the president declares an emergency. Last year, Congress opened GSA's security schedule to state and local use. These congressional actions established the main growth areas for GSA schedules in recent years, Bjorklund said.

FedSources' data show state and local sales increased 42 percent from fiscal 2006 to 2008. However, they account for less than 2 percent of GSA's total sales.

"It's a rapidly growing component of GSA schedules," Bjorklund said. "But the program is still in its early stages, so we don't know how long the high growth rate will be sustainable."

Given past experiences, opening the schedules to state and local governments for Recovery Act projects "would be good for us," said Steve Kempf, assistant Federal Acquisition Service commissioner for the Office of Acquisition Management. And it would expedite stimulus spending in a competitive and transparent way, he said.

Johnson, the nominee to lead GSA, told the committee that expanding state and local purchasing "could be a significant benefit for taxpayers."

Although the added business of state and local stimulus spending could be a boon to GSA, the agency has not forgotten its federal customers are its main source of business.

The agency has stepped up advertising, something that had been absent in recent years while GSA worked to fix internal problems that led to a series of contracting scandals five years ago, said Larry Allen, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement, a trade association for GSA vendors.

With Recovery Act spending at hand, this increased outreach reminds customer agencies of GSA's role as the government's central procurement shop, Allen said.

With many agencies still in the preparation phases of spending stimulus money, GSA has not seen an uptick in business yet, said Fredriksen of GSA's Office of Strategic Planning. But given the schedules' broad, pre-competed offerings and expanded outreach, she is confident consumers will turn to GSA to meet Recovery Act needs when they're ready.

GSA also is meeting with customers to let them know about all the agency's offerings — from schedules to governmentwide acquisition contracts for IT, Fredriksen said.

And recognizing agencies are facing new acquisition staffing demands because of the Recovery Act, GSA is promoting its Assisted Acquisition Services Office, which places orders on behalf of customers.

In some cases, the office will help manage stimulus-related purchases for customers. In other cases, customers are planning to handle stimulus buys in-house, while hiring GSA to manage their routine or planned procurements, said Mary Davie, assistant Federal Acquisition Service commissioner for assisted acquisition services.

"Were trying to work with them to ensure we can add value in the projects we're supporting," Davie said.

Davie declined to say what agencies or how many customers are taking advantage of the office's expertise. Despite staff reductions, her office will be ready to handle the Recovery Act work that comes its way, she said.

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