>>Hello and welcome to today’s webcast, my name is Ed O ...



GSA/USDA Webcast Transcript

>> Hello and welcome to today’s webcast, my name is Ed O’Hare and I am with the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, located in Arlington, VA. We develop and implement convenient, online procurement e-tools such as GSA Advantage, GSA e-Library, and GSA e-Buy. Today’s webcast is dedicated to introducing you, the USDA customer to your GSA e-commerce website, USDA Advantage.

Also, we are here today to introduce to you the product of the collaborative efforts of our two agencies. This is the strategic sourcing initiative that has been established to assist you with purchasing the products and or services that you require. GSA is proud to participate in this alliance because you have been a top customer of ours for many years. We hope to assist you in any way possible.

Please feel free to call on us to produce the results you expect. Today’s webcast will not cover a tutorial of the website, if you wish to obtain additional information on how you can use this website for your buying needs please logon to USDA Advantage to receive the tutorial. Instead I’d like to introduce to you two members of USDA’s Office of Procurement and Property Management: Mr. Glenn Haggstrom, Senior Procurement Executive and Mr. John McCain, Program Manager of the Strategic Sourcing program of the Procurement Policy Division. Glenn.

>>Thank you Ed for your introduction and my personal thanks to GSA for your participation in this mutually beneficial relationship as we cooperatively endeavor to support and promote USDA’s strategic sourcing initiative.

In addition, I would like to publicly extend our appreciation to GSA for supporting USDA’s BioPreferred program which promotes the purchase and use of BioPreferred products made from renewable agricultural materials. Specifically, our thanks to the GSA Advantage team for providing a new biobased icon to help federal purchasers identify those green biobased products found on the GSA Advantage and USDA Advantage web sites.

Purchasing mandatory BioPreferred and other biobased products achieves the following benefits: the reduction of the volume of waste in landfills; safer and healthier workplaces; decreased reliance on foreign supplies of oil and natural gas; increased domestic demand for many agricultural commodities; and increased economic development in Rural America. USDA has recently established a Sustainability Operations Council. One of the council’s priorities is to increase the purchase of Biobased, recycled, Energy Star, non-ozone depleting, and other green products.

Today we focus on USDA’s Strategic Sourcing Initiative and the benefits realized through usage of the USDA Advantage website in support of this initiative. In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget’s memorandum, “Implementing Strategic Sourcing,” USDA has developed a Strategic Sourcing initiative to ensure improved efficiencies and economies in the Department’s acquisition programs. The long-term objective of the program is to transform the Department’s acquisition process to ensure maximum value for every acquisition dollar spent through the leveraged spending and utilization of Strategic Sourcing principles.

The Department has developed an implementation strategy which is comprised of the following components: Conduct spend analysis; Select FAS supplies/services to compete; Conduct market research; Compete, and negotiate discounted blanket purchase agreements; Host BPAs, e-catalogs & ordering on USDA Advantage!; and finally Implement and manage BPAs I would now like to introduce our Program Manager in charge of the Strategic Sourcing program at USDA, Mr. John McCain who will discuss the Strategic Sourcing Initiative and USDA Advantage! in more specific terms. John.

>>Thank you. As Glenn has explained, USDA is dedicated to the implementation of Strategic Sourcing principles and practices to realize improved efficiencies and economies in the Department’s acquisition programs. USDA Advantage represents the first phase of the USDA virtual marketplace.

This system is part of USDA's Strategic Sourcing Initiative; an effort to better leverage USDA’s spending power to obtain cost avoidance benefits, and to improve ordering methods and delivery terms for commonly acquired items and services. USDA Advantage represents a successful partnership between the USDA Office of Procurement and Property Management, the General Services Administration, and all USDA agencies. Unlike other Internet-based shopping sites, this site is designed especially for USDA personnel. Because USDA is leveraging its buying power as a whole, USDA Advantage! includes lower prices than those typically available from the General Services Administration. These lower prices can help you re-program your budget dollars to better fulfill your organization's mission to serve the American public.

USDA is resolved to meet all of our socio-economic and required sources contracting goals. A surefire way to realize these goals is to purchase certain commodities using the USDA Advantage! electronic store. All purchase cardholders should go to usdaadvantage. and register for an ID and password if they have not already done so. USDA Advantage! provides agencies access to discounted Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) to provide leveraged buying in program-identified commodity areas. Information pertaining to these strategic sourcing BPAs can be found in the ‘supplemental materials’ section on the webcast located in the lower right corner of your screen. The Strategic Sourcing Initiative aims to improve award expediency and efficiency for selected commodity areas.

To that end, USDA’s BPAs have already been competed so no additional competition is necessary.Also, the BPAs contain all required clauses for orders over the micro purchase threshold.Cardholders can be assured of compliance with AbilityOne and other requirements when using USDA’s BPAs. USDA Advantage! also includes a link to all items on GSA Advantage! provides access to millions of other products. It is important to note that products on GSA Advantage! which have not been competed but the system allows users to easily complete their price and delivery terms comparisons, and view the socio-economic status of the vendor.

Users should be aware of what items are produced by AbilityOne non-profit organizations and search for items with the AbilityOne logo. This is also a great place to find products sold by disabled-veteran-owned businesses since your searches can be limited to these suppliers. USDA personnel are reminded that USDA Advantage! is for purchases in support of USDA official business only.

Personal purchases are prohibited. All purchase card and procurement policies remain in full force and effect. Because both USDA Advantage and GSA Advantage! contain a broad range of products, it must be noted that only items for which there is a legitimate business need shall be acquired. In closing, I’d like to stress again that we are firmly committed to Strategic Sourcing at the United States Department of Agriculture. While there are numerous avenues to achieve our strategic sourcing, socio-economic and required sources goals, USDA Advantage! is a unique tool in that it allows us to conceivably reach all three using one website. In specifically addressing purchase card holders and acquisition professionals, we ask that you log in and buy using USDA Advantage, your USDA-approved place for one-stop shopping.

We will continue to add new BPAs and other commodity areas to the Strategic Sourcing program so I ask that you stop by from time to time to see what we’re offering. We will be adding new BPAs to USDA Advantage! very soon. As the Strategic Sourcing Program Manager, I’m very excited by the strides that we’ve made in increasing the profile of the Strategic Sourcing program at USDA but we cannot succeed without your support and participation. Let’s continue to support USDA Advantage! and do all that we can to make USDA’s Strategic Sourcing program a rousing success.

>>Thank you for listening to today’s webcast. For further information or assistance please contact the USDA’s Strategic Sourcing Program Manager, Mr. John McCain, or GSA Advantage’s helpdesk for assistance. Contact information can be accessed on the ‘supplemental materials’ section of the webcast. Thank you all again for your attention and have a great day.

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