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Multiple Decentralized FSS BPAs for Books


Mike

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I am trying to set up a couple BPAs with book distributors. It would normally be easy to set up this BPA except getting an all inclusive pricelist is impossible. The customer will not know what titles they want until a month or so before they need them in hand. The distributors pricelist with GSA is a percentage discount per publisher and not on individual titles. So, they can give GSA pricing on any book that is published by those publishers.

GSA Advantage has a small number of titles listed for each distributor but it is not all their titles. Where I hit my snag is what can I use for my pricelist? I have tried using the pricelist established with GSA, with the percentage per publisher, but have had it rejected as a pricelist by the powers that be. Some of the vendors have a website set up where you can obtain GSA pricing for all of their titles but can I use those websites as a pricelist? There is no way to get all those titles off the website and into physical form to be approved and maintained. An all inclusive list would be in the millions with thousands added every month.

I have searched the FAR section 8 and DFARS as well as AFFARS and I'm not sure if this is going to be possible. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in Advance!

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Is there any reason you cannot get the customer to give you a list of the books they might want to order in the next year or so? Are they so unaware of their own requirements that they cannot even describe what they want?

I believe that the customer should know what he or she wants, and should be able to put a list together. If that list is not exaustive, it can be updated within reason over time as new titles are selected. Once the BPA's are awarded, you can have the contractors provide updates as new titles become available, and generally manage the BPA along with the customer, modifying the BPA as new titles get added, and issuing Call Orders for titles as required.

If your customer cannot determine his or her need, then I would forego setting up BPA's, and simply issue purchase orders against the GSA FSS contracts as the needs become known. A BPA is for recurring needs from the same contractor as per FAR 16.702(1)(B). If the customer cannot determine his or her need, how can you know if you will have recurring contracts with a particular vendor?

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What about something along the lines of this? Assuming it?s a flat discount:

Publisher ?A?:

Prices from $X.00 to $X.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XX.00 to $XX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XXX.00 to $XXX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Publisher ?B?:

Prices from $X.00 to $X.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XX.00 to $XX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XXX.00 to $XXX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

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Guest Vern Edwards
I am trying to set up a couple BPAs with book distributors. It would normally be easy to set up this BPA except getting an all inclusive pricelist is impossible. The customer will not know what titles they want until a month or so before they need them in hand. The distributors pricelist with GSA is a percentage discount per publisher and not on individual titles. So, they can give GSA pricing on any book that is published by those publishers.

GSA Advantage has a small number of titles listed for each distributor but it is not all their titles. Where I hit my snag is what can I use for my pricelist? I have tried using the pricelist established with GSA, with the percentage per publisher, but have had it rejected as a pricelist by the powers that be. Some of the vendors have a website set up where you can obtain GSA pricing for all of their titles but can I use those websites as a pricelist? There is no way to get all those titles off the website and into physical form to be approved and maintained. An all inclusive list would be in the millions with thousands added every month.

I have searched the FAR section 8 and DFARS as well as AFFARS and I'm not sure if this is going to be possible. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in Advance!

Yes, I have an idea. Tell the powers that be that they're being unreasonable. (I was going to say stupid, but I'm being nice.) Setting up the BPA with specified discounts off published price (which is a catalog price) is the only way to do what you want to do. When buying a book, it's the discount that matters, not the published price of the book. (That's the case with many commercial items.)

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Is there any reason you cannot get the customer to give you a list of the books they might want to order in the next year or so? Are they so unaware of their own requirements that they cannot even describe what they want?

I believe that the customer should know what he or she wants, and should be able to put a list together. If that list is not exaustive, it can be updated within reason over time as new titles are selected. Once the BPA's are awarded, you can have the contractors provide updates as new titles become available, and generally manage the BPA along with the customer, modifying the BPA as new titles get added, and issuing Call Orders for titles as required.

If your customer cannot determine his or her need, then I would forego setting up BPA's, and simply issue purchase orders against the GSA FSS contracts as the needs become known. A BPA is for recurring needs from the same contractor as per FAR 16.702(1)(B). If the customer cannot determine his or her need, how can you know if you will have recurring contracts with a particular vendor?

The customer does not know their needs until at the earliest 2 months out. The instructors have to finalize their teaching plans and don't do this with a whole lot of time left before the class start date. They decide on the book tehy want when doing their teaching plans. I have had some come in 2 weeks before the class start date and that was pretty much impossible to get them on time. Their class started without the book. Had I had a BPA it would have went much faster because they could of ordered a week before I got the purchase request.

As for recurring contracts I intend to set up BPAs with multiple Book distributors that have been providing us with these reqyuirements anyways.

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What about something along the lines of this? Assuming it?s a flat discount:

Publisher ?A?:

Prices from $X.00 to $X.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XX.00 to $XX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XXX.00 to $XXX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Publisher ?B?:

Prices from $X.00 to $X.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XX.00 to $XX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Prices from $XXX.00 to $XXX.00, minus X% discount the price is $X.00.

Its actually simplier than that. Publisher A gives one flat discount for all prices and the same for Publisher B.C.D.....

That is how their GSA Schedule is set up and that is their pricelist for GSA. I will push this further because if it can work as a GSA price list why can it not be one for us?

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Yes, I have an idea. Tell the powers that be that they're being unreasonable. (I was going to say stupid, but I'm being nice.) Setting up the BPA with specified discounts off published price (which is a catalog price) is the only way to do what you want to do. When buying a book, it's the discount that matters, not the published price of the book. (That's the case with many commercial items.)

Yes, you are right and I have been pushing that since I started on this quest of BPAs two months ago.I think I will press this harder and see what I can come up with. Thanks!!

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Mike,

That's the way BPA's often work. You don't need to specify items. Prices aren't required either. BPA's essentially work like charge accounts with merchants - they specify what the government wants, discounts/concessions from the vendor, and who in the government is authorized to order.

Military bases, for example, often have BPA's with numerous merchants for things like electrical components, plumbing supplies, office supplies, hardware, etc. When an electrician needs a replacement circuit breaker, they just call a BPA holder and have one delivered. The BPA doesn't specify a circuit breaker or the specific price - it just says something like it's for electronic components with "X" % discount.

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Mike,

That's the way BPA's often work. You don't need to specify items. Prices aren't required either. BPA's essentially work like charge accounts with merchants - they specify what the government wants, discounts/concessions from the vendor, and who in the government is authorized to order.

Military bases, for example, often have BPA's with numerous merchants for things like electrical components, plumbing supplies, office supplies, hardware, etc. When an electrician needs a replacement circuit breaker, they just call a BPA holder and have one delivered. The BPA doesn't specify a circuit breaker or the specific price - it just says something like it's for electronic components with "X" % discount.

I have argued that point but, I have been pressed to obtain some kind of pricelist. They then shot down my idea of the % discount per vendor. So I will keep arguing the fact and see where it gets me. I am not a CO only a specialist so I can't sign the award otherwise, it would of already been done!

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I have argued that point but, I have been pressed to obtain some kind of pricelist. They then shot down my idea of the % discount per vendor. So I will keep arguing the fact and see where it gets me. I am not a CO only a specialist so I can't sign the award otherwise, it would of already been done!

Are the individual calls above the micropurchase threshold?

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Assuming you aren't/can't compete the calls, I would just document the file with either actual pricelists at the time of purchase, a screenprint of the website prices, or that isn't available or can't be done efficiently, just a statement saying the prices are the standard commercial list prices with the applicale discount applied.

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Assuming you aren't/can't compete the calls, I would just document the file with either actual pricelists at the time of purchase, a screenprint of the website prices, or that isn't available or can't be done efficiently, just a statement saying the prices are the standard commercial list prices with the applicale discount applied.

Well we can get GSA pricing from the vendors own GSA website. Where I hit my biggest roadblock is that the AFFARS says: AFFARS IG5313.303-3?(2) says: ?The contracting officer should establish firm unit prices or obtain price lists from each BP holder? and AFFARS IG5313.303-3?(3) states "Requiring activities do not negotiate or solicit prices."

I have argued that it says "should" not "shall" as far as establishing firm unit prices! But the last part where requiring activities do not negotiate or solicit prices is my biggest flaw in that. If they are requesting quotes they are soliciting prices... With a FSS BPA you have to compete it between all the BPAs that are setup for that same commodity. Is there a way that I could use their website that shows GSA pricing as my pricelist? Its maintained by the vendor but gives the GSA discount to the prices. They would also be able to give a further discount dependent on volume and the publishers discount for that volume. But the websites will not show that discount.

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