The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), along with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), are laying the foundation for the eventual federal government purchase of commercial products through e-commerce portals.
The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) called on the GSA and OMB to establish a program to procure goods through contacts with commercial e-commerce portal providers. The agencies are considering three portal models: an e-commerce model in which vendors sell their products directly to the consumer through their own e-commerce portals; an e-marketplace model in which a portal is operated by one vendor as a third party to a range of product providers; and an e-procurement model in which a third party provides software that allows price comparison across multiple portals.
The NDAA requires the full rollout of the online acquisition program within the next two years. GSA plans to start the program at the “micro-purchase threshold,” which it proposed to raise to $25,000 for federal government purchases. The micro-purchase threshold for the Defense Department is currently $5,000, while it’s $10,000 for civilian agencies.
The GSA told the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that starting the initiative at the micro-purchase threshold will help to “limit risk” and ensure a controlled implementation. Meanwhile, the agency is still working out the actual procedures for purchasing consumer goods through the portals.