In an interview on “Government Matters,” two senior officials at the General Services Administration outlined how the agency is working with industry to create an e-commerce portal, something the National Defense Authorization Act mandates.
According to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, there are many reasons to establish an e-commerce website. Among them: removing barriers to entry for companies that want to sell to the government, making buying more efficient and getting better prices.
In the wake of these mandates in the NDAA, GSA Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service Alan Thomas became responsible for developing and employing strategies to address these priorities. Thomas and GSA Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Strategy Management Laura Stanton created a cross-functional team within GSA to prep for the passing of the legislation.
“One of the first things they did was think about how to best listen to industry and all the relevant stakeholders,” which led to GSA hosting an industry day event, Thomas said.
The industry day event had over 200 people in person and 200-300 additional participants online from various backgrounds, including small businesses, portal providers and trade associations allowing for the agency to receive a wide range of opinions on government regulation.
The team is currently processing those opinions and perspectives to include in the 90-day deliverable to Congress.
The big takeaway from the event was “we want to be able to best have the government serve its mission . . . and there’s disagreement on how does the government best do that and how do we do it most effectively,” Stanton said.
“But the bottom line is, there’s also an eagerness across the board from all participants to see technology be used more effectively,” she added.
Thomas expanded on the disagreements, saying many concerns stem from changing current rules or policies.
“That’s a balance we’re going to have to strike,” he said, “that’s why we’re out listening to people.” Thomas then pointed out supply chain security is another area important to watch.
“From our standpoint, the majority of business we do is with the [Defense Department] and we want to make sure that whatever we’re helping them introduce into their supply chain is secure and it can be from a trusted source,” he said.
To watch the full interview, click here.