Across the federal government, each agency has a specific policy for when GWACs (Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts) and mandatory strategic sourcing vehicles should be used. One of the challenges is whether a policy requires IT buys to be competed through NASA SEWP (Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement) or, for example, if DHS needs to compete through FirstSource II—none of the existing GWACs or strategic sourcing vehicles are available on the same platform. That is, until now.Using Unison Marketplace, buying organizations can select from a variety of GWACs and mandatory strategic sourcing vehicles when posting a product or service requirement. In fact, during the posting process, all an 1102 has to do is pick their desired contract vehicle from a drop-down menu. That’s it. Simple and easy.An 1102 may still wonder, “Why should I use Unison Marketplace for my requirement when I can go direct through the GWAC?” Three reasons:
- One login for all your contract approaches
Instead of logging into separate GWAC portals such as NASA SEWP, GSA, DHS FirstSource II, or Army CHESS (Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions), 1102s have access to all of these contract vehicles on the Unison Marketplace. This allows an 1102 to easily amend their procurement strategy if they do not receive advantageous results through the first contract approach they select, they can quickly get the requirement back out for competition with a new approach, with both approaches documented.
- Robust documentation of the competitive phase
For each requirement, an 1102 can see the number of vendors notified, who responded with pricing, who submitted a “no quote”, additional industry feedback, and the competition and pricing results achieved. The 1102 is even copied on a delivery notification one week out, so there are no surprises the day of delivery.
- The ability to negotiate every action, without extra effort
While vendors already have set contract pricing, we frequently see vendors on the Marketplace offer a price 10% below their contract ceiling to gain a greater competitive edge. The dynamic bidding functionality allows contract vehicle holders to know whether they are the “lead” price (the lowest priced vendor) or a “lag” price (not the most competitively priced). This helps drive competition and cost avoidance, even on GWAC requirements.This efficient use of GWACs for Buyers—one sign-in with access to numerous contract vehicles—is another value proposition on which Unison delivers. In a world that is increasingly constrained by budgetary concerns and accountability, Unison Marketplace provides easy access and a streamlined, one-stop shop to help to save time and money.
