NavyContracting

The best 1102-to-1102 training I've had on using the Schedules (they emphasize services, which are more complex than supplies) has been from the designated GSA Contracting Officers in Auburn WA who specialize in ordering issues. They do free online webinars, podcasts, and blogs on Schedules ordering. They are responsive by phone or e-mail. If you send me an e-mail (navycontracting@yahoo.com), I will send you the name and phone number of the GSA CO from Auburn who gave some excellent Schedules training to my contracting activity. He might have some training suggestions. I suggest you ONLY get the GSA's 1102s in Auburn (a couple ex-DoD COs) and NOT the local GSA "Customer Service Directors" some GSA folks will try to push on you. All you will get from those non-1102s is a sales pitch and what buttons to push on a website. Some of them will try to talk like a Contracting Officer, but the first time you ask them about a contract clause, you will find out they sent you the wrong person. Those CSDs are good for buying supplies on GSA Advantage, or using ELibrary, or posting something on GSA eBuy, but they are not Contracting Officers.

I suggest that the appropriate question from the ordering activity is NOT: "Where does the FAR or Schedule contract give me permission to add non-conflicting provisions/clauses from my agency's FAR Supplement or local clauses to my Schedule order RFQ?" but instead: [per FAR 1.102(d) and FAR 1.102-4(e)] "Where (if anywhere) does the FAR or the Schedule contract prohibit me from adding non-conflicting provisions/clauses from my agency's FAR Supplement or local clauses/provisions to my Schedule order RFQ?" Answer: There is no such prohibition in the FAR or in the Schedule contract. In fact, because the Schedule contracts are written for use by all federal agencies, the Schedule contracts don't include any provisions/clauses from your agency's FAR Supplement. For example, DoD Ordering Officers won't find a single DFARS clause/provision in the GSA Schedule contracts. Does that mean they are prohibited from adding necessary (but non-conflicting) DFARS clauses/provisions to their Schedule order RFQ? Of course not. Maybe you even need a FAR clause on Government Furnished Property for your Schedule task order. You won't find that clause in the Schedule contracts. So add it to your Task Order RFQ. FAR 1.602-1( says that the Contracting Officer (meaing the person signing the FSS taks order) must ensure "that all requirements of law, executive order, regulations, and all other applicable procedures, including clearances and approvals, have been met." The GSA Schedule contract CO doesn't know the laws and regulations applicable to your agency or your type of requirement and cannot put all that (and for every ordering activity!) into the Schedule contracts. I think the best discussion on clauses/provisions on FSS orders is posted at a GSA blog on this issue. Send me an e-mail (navycontracting@yahoo.com) and I will send you the link. navycontracting@yahoo.com (Proud "FAR Bootcamp" Graduate)