The General Services Administration is expanding the blanket purchase agreement for print management services.

GSA issued a request for information last month for printer and copier managed services under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) under Schedule 36 for Office Imaging and Document Solutions.

Printer and copier managed services includes everything from supplies replenishment to preventative maintenance and repair to just-in-time supply delivery to fleet summary and usage reports.

“The objective of these acquisition vehicles is to establish a tool for federal agencies to design solutions to holistically manage print output environments,” the RFI stated. “For the purposes of this RFQ, the term ‘print output environment’ encompasses any device within an agency’s office, remote location or any other duty location in which agency personnel are providing services, that produces a hard copy image on a paper document up to 11x 17 size paper.”

GSA wants to make one of the functional areas for print-managed services a small business set-aside.

The agency awarded 11 vendors a spot on the “PrintWise” BPA in September. GSA stated the BPAs are designed to improve device and operational efficiency, reduce print costs and raise agency environmental sustainability performance. The agency stated all devices will meet Energy Star standards, accept paper that is 100 percent recycled and 50 percent post-consumer content and come preset with default energy and cost savings settings.

GSA estimated that the BPAs could save the government $600 million over the next four years.

GSA expects the second phase to the FSSI initiative to further reduce costs as vendors help agencies better manage their use of printing and copier services.

GSA said the BPA will “address the need for information by requiring an agency to either: conduct an internal, comprehensive fleet assessment with specific elements pre-defined prior to soliciting an order for managed services, allow multiple contractors access to the agency’s ‘site’, or the internal network to gather a sample of fleet information prior to offering and/or solicit managed services under a two-phased approach.”

Vendors will be expected to work with agencies to identify potential areas of savings or cost reductions.

“The contractor will develop a comprehensive business plan upon commencement of a managed services task,” the RFI stated. “The contractor will put forth a plan to develop a cost baseline, targets for cost reduction and performance. The ordering activity [agency] must identify the specific cost and performance metrics that will be baselined in their [task order].”

Responses to the RFI are due July 9.

FSSI has come under criticism recently for its impact on small firms under the Office Supplies BPA. The government’s experience with the existing BPAs so far and the attention from Congress also is prompting both GSA and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to consider modifications to the program, including on ramps for small businesses or further partnering betweens companies on the BPAs and not on the contract.

Joe Jordan, OFPP administrator, said recently that the office supplies BPA is not a model, but more of a starting point. He said like many programs, the government learns from them and improves the process each time.

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TAG: Acquisition Contracting Industry GSA OFPP Joe Jordan Strategic sourcing Print management Jason Miller

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