Security Sales & Integration April 2022 - 8

INDUSTRY PULSE
IN DEPTH
WASHINGTON,
D.C. - The General
Services Administration (GSA) is piloting
a new automated method using data
analytics to protect its supply chain from
counterfeit, fraudulent or otherwise illegitimate
products.
In January, the agency began using a
" robomod " process with data from the
Verified Products Portal (VPP) to identify
unauthorized products on Multiple
Award Schedule (MAS) contracts and
GSA Advantage, the online shopping
and ordering service used by government
agencies to purchase commercial products
and services.
Launched in 2021, the VPP offers an
alternative to the Letter of Supply requirement,
which shows that manufacturers
and their wholesalers have given a reseller
permission to list its products on a GSA
Schedule. Instead of the reseller contacting
the manufacturer for information and then
passing it along to GSA, VPP allows the
manufacturer to provide the information
directly to GSA.
Within VPP, manufacturers authorize
suppliers at the line-item level. This allows
GSA to reject the addition of products that
are unauthorized and to deploy robomods,
which leverage software to delete unauthorized
products on the GSA Schedule.
The new pilot program extends to products
banned under Section 889 of the
2019 National Defense Authorization Act
(NDAA), as well as non-Trade Agreement
Act [TAA] compliant products, according
to Jake Parker, senior director of government
relations for the Security Industry
Association (SIA).
" Anything with a China country origin
is not supposed to be accepted, so this will
allow GSA to find those products and actually
remove them from those contracts,
automatically, " Parkers says.
The new process is expected to help
8
NEWS ANALYSIS RESEARCH PEOPLE
GSA Takes Aim at Illicit Product
Sales With 'Robomod' Tool by Rodney Bosch
GSA is using a new software mechanism as part of a pilot program to remove
unauthorized products from it supply chain.
encourage fair competition in the federal
marketplace and improve the ability of
agency customers to procure commercially
available off-the-shelf (COTS) products
with confidence.
For systems integrators, the pilot program
could be a new weapon in combatting
drastically reduced prices posted by
unsanctioned or otherwise disreputable
suppliers, explains Lynn de Séve, president
of GSA Schedules, a consulting company
she founded in 1984.
" With the pilot program's search 'n' remove
function, maybe that will scare the
bejesus out of everybody so they will stop
putting on unauthorized providers, " says
de Séve, who was inducted into the SSI Industry
Hall of Fame in March.
Oftentimes, systems integrators face
a steep uphill battle against competing
suppliers that either list bottom-dwelling
prices or inexpensive noncompliant wares.
Lately, due to inflation, many integrators
have been submitting higher price updates
to help recoup rising costs, while competing
sellers continue to stand pat. Some even
continue to list prices that are as much as a
two years old or more.
" A lot of the companies that have GSA
contracts - and here is the important part
- are integrators. Integrators need a higher
margin because they're providing a soluSecurity
Sales & Integration APRIL 2022
tion, not just selling a piece of equipment, "
says de Séve. " An unauthorized distributor
is just selling parts with very little margin
in there. But that then impacts the integrators.
They are paying employees who
meet wage determination requirements in
certain areas of the country. They have insurance
and trucks and gas and tools. They
have to have more margin, and yet their
proposal is being judged against little distributors
who aren't even authorized by the
manufacturers. "
According to GSA, in mid-March there
were more than 351,000 products listed on
the VPP and 821 authorized suppliers. GSA
will inform MAS contractors once it finds
inconsistencies in their supplier authorization
based on data on the VPP and will give
vendors 30 days to contest any findings. At
the end of the one-month period, the agency
will remove unauthorized offerings from
the MAS contract and GSA Advantage.
The pilot program is currently focused
on contracts with the highest number of
identified unauthorized products. GSA
says it plans to roll out the process to other
contracts in the future.
" The uptake has been pretty slow because
it involves a lot of information that has to
be submitted, but it is definitely something
that I think eventually the manufacturers
are going to embrace, " says Parker.
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Security Sales & Integration April 2022

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