Last month the WashingtonExec Federal Business Council hosted a morning roundtable on the topic of Category Management with keynote speakers Steve Krauss, Director of FAS Category Management Strategic Execution, and Earl Warrington, Director and Category Manager of the Office of IT Shared Services within the Office of Integrated Technology Services (ITS).
Category management was founded in 2014 with the mission of helping federal agencies build better and deeper relationships with supplier markets. The top three govcon industries that utilize category management are facilities and building management, professional services, and information technology services. Issues discussed included Category Management’s impact on acquisitions of services and the need for increased transparency within federal agencies and with government and industry leaders.
Both Krauss and Warrington highlighted that Category Management is a critical element of GSA’s strategy to streamline government-wide procurement.
“Category Management is going to drastically improve how government interacts with industry by eliminating much of the redundancy and duplication that currently clutters the market and drives up industry’s cost for doing business with the government,” said Warrington. “Category management will ensure that industry understands the government’s needs and government buyers will understand industry’s capabilities, resulting in better requirements and better outcomes for everyone.”
Raza Latif, who is the Chief Operating Officer at NuAxis Innovations, added, “We at NuAxis Innovations are encouraged to see such active engagement from GSA executives on this important topic. WashingtonExec has once again delivered a great opportunity to learn about another emerging change in our Industry.”
The large roundtable was sponsored by NuAxis Innovations, a solution-driven IT infrastructure support contractor for the federal government.
