GSA extends wireless bulk buying plan

Federal buyers will have until this fall to use the General Services Administration's predetermined pricing/supply agreements to buy their wireless services from providers.

In a March 6 blog post, Kay Ely, assistant commissioner in GSA's Office of Information Technology Category, said the agency has extended the life of the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative wireless services blanket purchase agreements though November to help agencies complete their agreements for next fiscal year.

The BPAs had been set to expire May 20.

GSA rolled out the BPAs with AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon in the spring of 2013. The agreements consolidated service plans and centralized device management, setting federal customers up for what GSA said could be millions in savings.

It was the first time agencies had a single governmentwide option with the ability to access a pool of unused minutes rather than paying overage fees.

Ely said in her blog post that said federal agencies saved an average 26 percent on wireless solutions in 2017 using the vehicle.

The extension will also give the agency a little more time to develop an agile, next-generation mobile services contract vehicle, according to Ely.

The Mobile Services Category Team -- made up of GSA, the Office of Management and Budget and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State -- is working with GSA's Enterprise Mobility Program on a more agile buying tool for mobile services.

The two groups, she said, are developing on a "Request for Quote" engine agencies can use to comb through existing contracts more effectively to find flexible, cost-effective solutions more quickly.