Agencies and industry partners are benefitting from a new governmentwide laptop- and desktop-buying process, according to a guest post on the General Services Administration’s Great Government through Technology blog by Kay Ely, deputy assistant commissioner of the Office of Integrated Technology Services.

The Governmentwide Strategic Solutions approach to buying hardware offers best-value IT solutions by addressing the lack of visibility between agencies on what price is paid for equipment. The federal government spends more than $1 billion annually on computer equipment, spread between thousands of contracts.

The Office of Management and Budget GSS laptop- and desktop-buying events have been organized to inform agencies about computer purchasing options. Using a category management approach, IT Schedule 70 conducted a reverse auction where suppliers submitted initial quotes for three laptop and three desktop configurations to GSS via eBuy, and those rated technically acceptable participated in the pricing phase.

Impres Technology Solutions (Dell), ABM Federal Sales (Hewlett-Packard) and NCS Technologies (Lenovo) were awarded contracts, and 36 agency representatives attended buying events to survey options.

The intent of agencies to buy as one drove prices immediately down an average of 16 percent and has the potential to save up to 27 percent off GSA standard pricing, as well as save U.S. taxpayers an initial $8 million overall.

"Using this program, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has already placed an order for $230,845, which included 100 laptops and 125 desktops," Ely offered as an example.

"

This new pricing enabled the Museum to maximize their budget and get an additional 55 computers that they otherwise couldn't have. Overall, this came to a savings, against the old pricing, of nearly $75,000."

GSS laptop- and desktop-buying informational sessions are being hosted to explain the category management principles applied and how to easily order. In addition, more information on the configurations and contracts available for making purchases is available through GSA Advantage or the Acquisition Gateway.

Share:
In Other News
Load More