GSA floats outsourcing option for financial, admin services

The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service today announced it is pursuing the idea of allowing small and midsize agencies to use a new GSA center to buy financial and administrative management services through a seat management-style contract.

GSA created the Financial Management Systems Services Center to provide guidance, knowledge and services to federal agencies buying financial and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems after the current FMS Software schedule expires Sept. 30.

Many of the larger agencies have enough financial management and procurement expertise in-house to buy financial and ERP systems with some assistance from the FMSSC. But smaller agencies usually do not have the people, knowledge or money to buy and install these systems on their own, said Patrick Smith, executive director of the FMSSC today at a Federal Sources Inc. breakfast in McLean, Va.

Instead of those agencies buying financial systems, the FMSSC is looking into giving those agencies the option of outsourcing their financial services in much the same way that they can outsource the management of their desktop systems under the seat management concept.

The financial systems themselves will be owned by GSA or the vendor, and the agencies will lease the services and time on the system.

GSA also may include similar services for the other ERP functions, including human resources and payroll, Smith said.