Davie: GSA saved a billion on 2013 IT buys

The General Services Administration helped save its government customers more than $1 billion on IT products, services and solutions in 2013, according to a key technology acquisition executive.

GSA's Office of Integrated Technology Services met its goal of $1.35 billion in savings for federal users through innovative procurement methods, wrote Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for ITS, in a Dec. 3 post on her "Great Government Through Technology" blog.

Davie followed up on a November post by Bill Lewis, ITS' Networx program manager, in which he said the government saved an average of 35 percent off commercial prices by using Networx telecommunications contracting vehicles. Networx capitalizes on the combined buying power of federal agencies.

Davie echoed Lewis' claim that Networx racked up savings, saying its subscribing agencies kept $678 million more in their pockets in fiscal 2013 for telecom services. She said one agency, which she did not name, is expected to save 20 percent by using Networx.

She tallied up savings from other programs as well. Most agencies using GSA's USAccess shared-services program for identity, credential and access management services saved four to nine times the amount it cost individual agencies to buy those services on their own, according to Davie.

She also said agencies saved $775 million in software costs compared with commercial prices by using SmartBUY blanket purchase agreements. And as of Sept. 30, GSA's six-month-old ReverseAuctions.GSA.gov site had saved 17 agencies an average of 7.27 percent, or $161,549.

Although Davie did not provide specific savings under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, she said the program's "do once, use many" approach to authority-to-operate requirements could save agencies a year and $100,000 in implementation costs compared to the time and money involved in instituting their own review processes.

In the coming year, GSA will test prices-paid initiatives for some of its contracts, including its Future Commercial Satellite Communications Services Acquisition vehicle and its governmentwide acquisition contracts, with the goal of helping its customers make better buying decisions by supplying information on the prices that other agencies have paid for the same services.

Davie said ITS has also been conducting a full-scale review of GSA's Federal Supply Schedules contracts to make sure they are meeting customers' needs. In addition, she said she hopes agencies will be ready in 2014 to fully capitalize on the Managed Mobility Program that GSA set up in fiscal 2013, and ITS was moving to reduce pricing variability on wireless service plans to help agencies get a better handle on costs.