Contractors would have to report prices paid data for all General Services Administration contract vehicles, the agency wrote in a proposed rule March 4.
GSA is proposing the new rules as part of its effort to transform federal contracting by setting up spending categories and creating better price and data transparency. This information would be included in its developing "common acquisition platform."
"The current lack of transparency on prices paid by government customers has led to significant price variation, sometimes 300 percent or more, for identical purchases by federal agencies from the same commercial vendor as well as the unnecessary duplication of contract vehicles," GSA wrote in the rule.
The proposed rule would allow agencies to compare prices on products and services and would be implemented in all of GSA's governmentwide contract vehicles, except for its Multiple Award Schedules contract vehicles, where the agency would phase in the new rules.
It would also partially remove a provision called the "price reduction clause," which forces contractors to monitor their pricing and give government agencies the same price reductions they give to commercial customers.
The new proposals to reform the Multiple Award Schedules are necessary and long overdue, according to the Professional Services Council.
The partial elimination of the price reduction clause is welcomed, even if its taken GSA years to propose it, according to Alan Chvotkin, PSC vice president. The move would save private companies $51 million a year, he added.
"Even as the entire market and demand for the GSA schedules and other GSA acquisition vehicle offerings has changed over the years, the anachronistic price reduction clause has loomed over schedules contractors and kept out those companies that didn't want to incur the cost of compliance or face the significant consequences of making a mistake," Chvotkin said
But GSA should also move to address other issues, such as eliminating the price reduction clause entirely for services and solutions, and modifying the schedules to help agencies more easily acquire solutions, he said.
