Good or bad (your view grounded in whether you're an insider or an outsider), an important provision in the E-Government Act of 2002 might mark the beginning of a change.

Section 211 of the Act authorizes the federal General Services Administration (GSA) to provide state and local governments access to its Federal Supply Schedule 70, the one for information technology products and services. ("State and local governments in this case include any state, local, regional, or tribal government, or any instrumentality thereof, including any local educational agency or institution of higher education.)

The rule is voluntary for both sides. In other words, businesses with Schedule 70 contracts will have the option of deciding whether they will accept state and local orders. Similarly, the rule places no obligation on state and local buyers. They would have full discretion to decide if they wish to make supply schedule purchases.

State and local governments, however, feeling the pinch of recession, are likely to take advantage of the built-in cost savings of Schedule buys. Local insider IT companies should monitor closely whether the governments to which they sell plan to opt in. If the opt-ins are inevitable and coming soon, insider IT companies need to give serious thought to getting on the Schedule, if they aren't already. Such companies will have two things going for them: Schedule status and local presence.

Parties interested in commenting on the proposed rule should submit comments to the Regulatory Secretariat at the following address on or before March 24, 2003. (Cite "2002-G505" in all correspondence.)

General Services Administration
Regulatory Secretariat (MVA)
1800 F Street, NW
Room 4035
Attn: Ms. Laurie Duarte
Washington, DC 20405.

Submit electronic comments via to G505@gsa.gov.

Landing a GSA Schedule award isn't easy. Although for many companies it's worth it, the process does take time and money. If you're interested in knowing more about Fedmarket.com's consulting services and how we can help, send an email to editor@fedmarket.com (with the subject "GSA Consulting") and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.