Tiffany Hixson

The Federal Acquisition Service is developing a new special item number (SIN) for order level materials on service contracts.

This edition provides a glimpse into the many different missions and programs of the U.S. federal government.

The General Services Administration is seeing slow, steady growth for its Human Capital and Training Solutions governmentwide contract.

Tiffany Hixson, the assistant commissioner for GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of Professional Services and Human Capital Categories, said her office is conducting training and providing help for agencies through a Services Acquisition Workshop (SAW) approach.

The General Services Administration announced four long-time members of the OASIS professional services program are moving to FedSIM. The decision caught industry off guard and created concerns about the long-term health of the $4 billion multiple award contract.

The Defense Department mandated the use of a services acquisition workshop in 2012 for all procurements worth more than $1 billion. The success of the effort is leading other agencies to use it.

At the General Services Administration, a team of category managers works to establish the contract vehicles and policies for each member’s particular category. One of the fastest growing type of items for federal agencies is professional services. Federal Drive with Tom Temin talks to Tiffany Hixson, the GSA’s professional services category executive, at the National Contract Management Association meeting in Washington.

The Professional Services Category Management team released for industry comment a new strategic plan to improve how agencies buy and manage everything from management to legal to financial services.

Tens of millions of dollars in agency-by-agency service contracts are due to expire next year. GSA hopes to transition a large proportion of the spending into governmentwide vehicles such as OASIS and the GSA schedules.