Guys, educate your Government Purchase Card holders and Contracting Officers on the proper nomenclatures for the equipment you need to complete the mission.
Recently, FedBid.com issued this notice on FedBizOpps.com alerting industry to a SOCOM GPC holder’s desire to buy “Glock 19 Holsters & Clips.” The problem here is that there’s no such thing as a “Glock Clip.” Obviously, the request should have been for magazines, along with the desired capacity.
FedBid is a reverse auction site, operated on behalf of the government by a private company. It lists the item(s) required by the government client and facilitates industry’s bids to provide the gear, but with bids going lower and lower until the lowest price is established. Then, the winner provides the equipment purchased to the government client.
On the surface, the process sounds great, particularly for commodities like cleaning and office supplies. But for some items, the process may result in the client not getting what they want due to poorly written requirements. For instance, asking for “clips.” A vendor could sell the government something that doesn’t meet the actual end user requirement. Worse still, due to the FedBid process, it can be difficult for the client to recoup their funds if the vendor’s solution doesn’t line up with expectations.
Educate those providing your equipment so they don’t inadvertently buy you something you don’t need, or can’t use.
