The General Services Administration ( GSA ), an independent body of the United States government, was established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functions of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications to US government offices, provides transportation and office space to federal employees, and develops cost-effective policies across government and other management tasks.
GSA employs about 12,000 federal workers and has an annual operating budget of about $ 20.9 billion. GSA oversees the procurement of $ 66 billion annually. It contributes to the management of about $ 500 billion in US federal property, divided mainly among 8,700 owned and leased buildings and 215,000 units of motor vehicles. Among the real estate assets managed by the GSA are the Ronald Reagan Building and the International Trade Center in Washington, DC - the largest US federal building after the Pentagon - and Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center (formerly the venue of the Battle Creek Sanitarium by John Harvey Kellogg ).
GSA's business lines include the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) and Public Building Services (PBS), as well as several Staff Offices including the Government-wide Policy Office, Small Utilization Business Office, and Office of Warranty Assistance. As part of the FAS, the GSA Technology Transformation Service (TTS) helps federal agencies improve the delivery of information and services to the public. Major initiatives include FedRAMP, Cloud.gov, the USAGov platform ( for example. , USA.gov, GobiernoUSA.gov, and Kids.gov), Data.gov, Performance.gov, and Challenge.gov.
GSA is a G6 Procurement member, an informal group that leads the use of framework agreements and e-procurement instruments in public procurement.
Video General Services Administration
Histori
In 1947 President Harry Truman asked former President Herbert Hoover to lead what is known as the Hoover Commission to make recommendations for reorganizing the federal government's operations. One of the recommendations of the commission is the establishment of a "Public Service Office." This proposed office will combine the responsibilities of the following organizations:
- US. Federal Department of Supply Bureau
- US. Treasury Department Contract of Treasury
- National Archive Design
- All functions of the Federal Works Agency, including Public Buildings Administration and Public Road Administration
- Administration of War Assets
The GSA became an independent institution on 1 July 1949, following the passage of the Federal Property and Administration Act. General Jess Larson, Administrator of the Asset Administration of War, was appointed the first GSA Administrator.
The first job waiting for the newly formed Larson Administrator and GSA is the complete renovation of the White House. The structure had fallen into such defective conditions in 1949 that an inspector at the time said the historic structure stood "purely out of habit." Larson then explained the nature of total renovation in depth by saying, "To make the White House structurally audible, it is necessary to completely disassemble, and I mean completely dismantle, everything from the White House except the four walls, made of stone. , except four roofless walls, finally stripped off, and that's where the work begins. "GSA works closely with President Truman and First Lady Bess Truman to ensure that the first major project of this new institution will be a success. GSA completed the renovation in 1952. In 1986 the GSA headquarters, US Public Service Administration Building, located at Eighteenth and F Streets, NW, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, while serving as the Department of Home Affairs office.
In 1960, GSA created the Federal Telecommunications System, a government intercity telephone system. In 1962, the Ad Hoc Committee in the Federal Office Space created a new development program to tackle outdated office buildings in Washington, D.C., which resulted in the construction of many offices now the Path of Independence.
In 1970, the Nixon government created the Consumer Product Information Coordination Center, now part of USAGov. In 1974, the Federal Building Fund began, allowing GSA to issue lease fees to federal agencies. In 1972 GSA established the Automatic Data and Telecommunication Service, which later became the Office of Information Resource Management. In 1973 GSA created the Office of Federal Management Policy. Procurement Policy of GSA Centralized Procurement Policy in 1978. GSA was initially responsible for emergency preparedness and stockpiling strategic materials to be used in wartime until these functions were transferred to the new Federal Emergency Management Agency established in 1979.
In 1984, GSA introduced the federal government to the use of charge cards, known as GMA SmartPay systems. The National Archives and Archives Administration was separated into an independent body in 1985. That same year, GSA began providing oversight and guidance of government policy for the management of the federal property property as a result of an Executive Order signed by President Ronald Reagan.
In 2003, the Federal Protection Service was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security. In 2005 GSA rearranged to merge Federal Supply Service (FSS) and Federal Technology Service (FTS) business lines to the Federal Acquisitions Service (FAS).
On April 3, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Martha N. Johnson to serve as the GSA Administrator. After a nine-month delay, the United States Senate confirmed his candidacy on February 4, 2010. On April 2, 2012, Johnson resigned after a management shortage report that inadequate detailed payments for the 2010 "Western Conference" training conference were put on by the Public Building Service in Las Vegas.
Controversy
Federal Building Controversy Ted Weiss
In July 1991, the GSA contractors started extracting what is now the Federal Building of Ted Weiss in New York City. Planning for the building does not take into account the possibility of a historic funeral meeting for the New York-era colonial Africa located under the $ 276 million office building footprint. When the initial excavations interfere with burials, destroying skeletons and artifacts, GSA sends archaeologists to perform excavations - but hides their findings from the public. Wahyu's discoveries led to 18 months of activism by members of the African-American community, public officials, academics, and concerned citizens. Finally, the GSA made a public amendment by funding extensive scientific research under the auspices of Michael Blakey; creating new subagencies, Office of Public Education and Interpretation; cutting building plans; and funding public reports about the story of the African Cemetery. The effort led to the establishment of a new unit of the National Park Service, the National Monument to the Land of Burial Africa, at the facility. The GSA fully funded part of the National Park Service until 2010, when formal GSA involvement with the African Ground Cemetery ceased.
Lurita Doan Controversy
In a previous scandal, President George W. Bush forced the previous GSA Administrator, Lurita Doan, to resign after GSA had awarded a single source contract for $ 20,000 to his friend. Doan seems to have violated the Hatch Act and was criticized for political activity while working. The investigation team recommended he was sentenced as far as possible, and he immediately resigned.
Western Western Conference Controversy conference
In 2012 US Representative John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called for a congressional investigation into federal money abuse by the GSA. MPs accused GSA of "luxury shopping" after the Western Conference Training Conference 2010 at M Resort in Las Vegas.
GSA spent $ 823,000 in taxpayer money to the October 2010 convention, including $ 100,405.37 spent on personnel travel expenses for a total of eight pre-planning meetings, scout trips, and "dry trips". The report also finds excessive spending on event planners, prizes for attendees, and fancy meals.
The conference was the most recent in a series of similar luxury conferences organized by the areas of the GSA Public Building Service. In May 2010, GSA treated 120 interns for a five-day conference in Palm Springs, California, resort. Additional investigations led by Inspector General Brian D. Miller found 115 lost Apple iPods meant for employee rewards programs.
GSA administrator Martha N. Johnson resigned after the controversy. Before submitting his resignation, Johnson dismissed two other senior GSA executives, head of General Building Services Robert Peck and senior adviser Stephen Leeds. The four PBS Regional Commissioners, who are responsible for planning the conference, are granted administrative leave.
Maps General Services Administration
Organization
Structure
The administrator is the chief executive of the Public Service Administration. Emily W. Murphy was inaugurated as Administrator on December 12, 2017 after being unanimously confirmed by the US Senate on December 5, 2017. The GSA consists of two main services: the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), and the Public Building Service (PBS)). In addition to these two main services, the agency also consists of twelve staff offices and two independent offices.
Staff Office
- extensive Office Policies
- Office of Chief Financial Officer
- Human Resources Management Office
- GSA IT Office
- Office Administrative Services
- Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs
- Office of Strategic Communication
- Office of Small Business Utilization
- Office of the General Counsel
- Civil Rights Office
- Office of Warranty Mission
- Customer Experience Office
Independent Office
- Office of the Inspector General
- Civil Council Contract Submission
Territories
GSA operates through 11 offices (known as GSA Territories) throughout the United States. This regional office is located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Ft. Worth, Kansas City (Missouri), New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle (Auburn), and Washington, D.C.
Operation
GSA Procurement and Schedule
Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) provides a comprehensive solution for products and services across government. GSA assists procurement jobs for other government agencies. As part of this effort, he maintains a large GSA Schedule, which can be used by other agencies to purchase goods and services. The GSA schedule may be considered a collection of negotiable contracts. Procurement managers from government agencies can view this agreement and make a purchase from the GSA Schedule knowing that all legal obligations have been handled by the GSA.
The GSA schedule is awarded as a major contract signed by the federal government and vendors who have submitted an acceptable proposal. At the core of the GSA Schedule contract there are two key concepts: 1) The foundation of the Award customer or customer group and 2) The Price Reduction Clause. Both concepts are applied together to achieve government price targets for the GSA Schedule program. That is, the government wants to make sure that when vendors experience competitive pressure to reduce prices, the government can benefit from this and will extend the reduced price as well.
The customer or customer group base represents a customer or group of customers whose sales are affected on the same terms and conditions as those using GSA, and whose prices are used: 1) as a basis during negotiations to determine discounts offered to GSA, and 2) as price floor which, when violated, constitutes an additional discount that triggers the Price Reduction Clause.
The Price Reduction clause ensures that vendor discount practices and pricing GSA Schedule keeps a fixed relationship. The vendor specifies in its GSA proposal, and during the negotiation of the GSA contract price, a discount is to be given to the customer's Basis of Award (s). If the vendor then gives a larger discount to the Base Award customer than what is agreed in the GSA Schedule contract (that is, if the price is violated), then the GSA vendor's price will be proportionally reduced and retroactive.
Effective Pricing Reduction compliance procedures will protect vendors if their discount practices are fully and accurately disclosed in their original proposals to the GSA, and then used as a basis for compliance during the contract period. While not ideal, compliance systems implemented after a given contract can bring the contract into compliance, albeit sometimes at the expense of profit. If applying the system in the middle of the contract period, the inaccuracies that arise should be promptly corrected, and the GSA contract officer must be made aware of it. Compliance systems and procedures Reduction of Price Clauses can range from simple to complex. A simple manual system would be appropriate for service contractors with a non-discounted standard wage rate. A complex system will be required for retailers with thousands of different product and discount policies among product groups.
In response to increased mandates and standards required by the Federal Government from its agencies and in the impetus to plan for federal sustainability, GSA offers online tools to assist in building and managing government offices subject to these requirements.
GSA has delegated authority to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to obtain medical supplies under the VA Federal Supply Schedule Program.
Building and federal properties
The Public Building Service (PBS) acquires and manages thousands of federal properties. In accordance with Title 40 of the United States Code, GSA is required by issuing regulations governing the acquisition, use and disposal of real property (real estate and land) and private property (basically all other properties). This activity is centered on the GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy. Policies disseminated by GSA are developed in collaboration with federal agencies, and are usually published for public commentary in the Federal Register before publication as a Final Rule.
The Public Building Service provides a workplace for federal customer agents and US courthouses in good economy to American taxpayers. PBS is funded primarily through the Federal Building Fund, which is supported by leases from federal customer agents.
The disposal of real property surpluses is managed by the Property Disposal Office within the Public Building Service. The office is responsible for properties that include land, office buildings, warehouses, former post offices, farms, family dwellings, commercial facilities or airfields located in the United States, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, or the US Pacific Territory. Excess property is provided to both government and private bidders and, in some cases, publicly sold land (such as parks or welfare) can be provided for discounts of up to 100% of fair market value.
GSA has earned LEED ratings for 24 green buildings. Some green offerings in new buildings include green roofs (planted roofs that can substantially reduce rainfall runoff during storms and provide significant insulation for buildings), under-floor air distribution (which provides cooling and heating of air at the floor level instead of from the ceiling), buying and using renewable power from utility companies, and light racks (located outside buildings that reduce the amount of heat radiating into buildings from the sun while increasing the amount of natural light and high ceilings that help direct the sun's light away to in the work environment). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is available for no less than $ 4.5 billion for the steps required to convert GSA facilities into High Performing Green Buildings, as defined in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (Public Law 110-140 ).
The Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program facilitates the implementation of GSA, through project transaction services, applied technology services and decision support services, to deploy renewable energy technologies and foster change to embrace energy efficiency.
In 2004, the GSA presented with the Honorary Award of the National Building Museum to "succeed in creating and maintaining an innovative environment for the federal community as well as providing a positive federal presence for the public."
Federal vehicle fleet management
GSA contributes to US Federal property management, including 215,000 units of motor vehicles.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the stimulus bill) includes $ 300 million to acquire energy-efficient motor vehicles for the federal fleet. President Barack Obama announced that GSA would support the US auto industry with orders for about 17,600 new fuel-efficient vehicles on June 1, 2009, on an accelerated schedule, with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. GSA will pay $ 285 million for General Motors Corporation, Chrysler LLC, and Ford Motor Company. That includes 2,500 hybrid sedans - the largest one-time purchase yet hybrid vehicle for the federal government - and each new vehicle is claimed to produce at least a 10% more fuel economy improvement than its predecessor. GSA will spend $ 15 million more that year on a fleet of advanced technology vehicle pilots, including electric vehicles and hybrid buses.
Hybrids accounted for about 10 percent of the 145,473 vehicles purchased by the US General Administration during fiscal 2009 and 2010, after making less than 1 percent of government vehicle purchases in 2008. As for certain models, Obama takes a buy-American attitude. The US government buys about two-thirds of the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid sold over the past two years, and nearly a third of the Ford Fusion Hybrids, but only 17 Toyota Prius hybrids and five Honda Civic Hybrids. Ground Force One, designated when transporting POTUS, was one of two armored buses acquired in 2010 for the transportation of officials under Secret Service protection, at a cost of $ 1.1 million each. The trainers gathered in Tennessee on frames made in Canada.
Interfaith Resource Management Conference
The Inter-Resource Management Conference (IRMCO) is a federal executive conference of the General Services Administration, which houses about 300 federal and industrial leaders each year. The Interagency Resource Management Conference began in 1961 as an ADPCO conference. In 1979, the Department of Commerce, GSA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) jointly sponsored the conference for Senior Executive Officers (SES) in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At the same time, the National Archives held a small record management conference for senior executives, also located in Gettysburg. Both of these conferences joined ADPCO and became The Interagency Resources Management Conference. Over the years, the conference has developed its focus from being highly specialized to being integrated. In 1996, when the US Congress mandated the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO), new federal executives were invited to attend the Inter-agency Resources Management Conference.
The Inter-City Resources Management Conference is the government's top senior executive conference when it was held as an off-site retreat for leaders from all governments. Initially, industry participation was administered by the division of Post-Newsweek Tech Media, and from 1999 to 2008, Post-Newsweek, with the help of small business, women's, Hosky Communications Inc., the strongest of the SES community for the event, generating on average 3-400 participants with government and industry ratios 3: 1. GSA leadership creates conference content that directly addresses the Administration's goals during those years. The industry exhibition shows the role that partners play in executing cost cutting technology solutions for government.
In 2008, Hosky was awarded a competitive contract to continue to manage and develop the forum. From 2008 to 2010, IRMCO attracted participants from around 65 federal and diverse disciplines including information technology, human resources, acquisition, management and finance.
After travel restrictions and budget issues arose at the end of 2010, IRMCO was moved to a local place under the Associate A-S-K management service, where a major presence by industry was established as a means of informing commercial companies about GSA policies. IRMCO 2011 is held in Washington, D.C., at the Kellogg Conference Center and Hotel on the Gallaudet University campus.
Shortly after IRMCO 2011, GSA's Associate Administrator for Government Policy, Kathleen Turco, announced to the media that she and other GSA officials felt that IRMCO had lost its enthusiasm and stopped the event.
Technology Transformation Service
Beginning with the Federal Citizen Information Center in 1970, the GSA has had a long history of connecting communities with government information and services. In 2009, the Office of Citizens Service and Innovative Technology was created to expand efforts to serve the community through technology. The GSA began managing the Presidential Fellows Innovation program that same year launched 18F, the first of its kind in the agency, launched in 2014 with a team of 15 designers, engineers and product specialists focused on improving the federal government's digital services.
Now all these offices have joined under the Technology Transformation Services sub-unit of the Federal Acquisition Service. Its mission is to enhance public experience with governments by helping federal and state agencies build, buy, and share technologies that enable them to better serve the public. Joanne Collins Smee is director of the Technology Transformation Service and deputy commissioner for Alan Thomas of the Federal Acquisition Services. The Center of Excellence, launched under its leadership, works to accelerate the modernization of IT infrastructure and reduce IT spending across legacy across government.
Section 1122 Program
In 2009, Section 1122 of the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 1994 for Fiscal Year 2009 was added. It extends the program from buying counter-drug materials and equipment with discounts for domestic security and emergency response operations. In addition to GSA, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) provide equipment, as in the 1033 program.
See also
References
External links
- Official website
- Public Service Administration in the Federal List
- GSA Schedule Contracts in 100 US Federal Government Top Contractors
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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