Federal asset sales initiative on fast track

Federal Asset Sales initiative

The General Services Administration is developing a program through which agencies can funnel billions of dollars of annual sales of their excess property.

The Federal Asset Sales program, one of the 24 e-government initiatives, is expected to help the federal government get a better return on property sales, which have an estimated $16 billion market value.

The program will include an online marketplace through which agencies can make sales. More than 160 Web sites currently offer only a small percentage of the total assets for sale.

The initiative is more than just a Web portal. GSA officials want to set up what they call a service aggregator, a lead contractor with a diverse team that can advise agencies on the most profitable way to dispose of assets.

GSA officials don't expect all excess property to go through this program. But the assets that do go through will likely sell for more than the average of 2 cents on the dollar that one agency gets, said Corey Runnels, a consultant with the program's management office.

The first contract under the program, to be awarded Sept. 30, will cover the sale of personal property, such as cars, boats and other vehicles, furniture, and various supplies and equipment, including technology. Future contracts will cover real estate, securities and investments.

This program sounds like a good idea considering agencies' poor asset management skills, and for a few agencies this might work, "but at some point, aggregation doesn't make sense any more," said Chip Mather, senior vice president of Acquisition Solutions Inc. "My only concern is that the benefits begin to be outweighed by the size and complexity."

GSA plans to release a draft solicitation July 1 for the performance-based contract, issue a final solicitation July 21, and award a contract to a single vendor team by Sept. 30, said Kyle Turner, a contracting officer at GSA.

GSA is already working with 18 civilian and Defense agencies, including the Commerce, Justice and Treasury departments, to incorporate their requirements and opinions into the solicitation.

The key is to make the agencies want to use this program, something that will bring them more value than simply disposing of property as easily — which often means as cheaply — as possible, said Mitra Nejad, program manager for the initiative.

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A buyer's market

Information technology accounts for more than 17 percent of the $8.9 billion in personal property sold last year by federal agencies. Here's the breakdown:

Category - Percent of total sales

IT equipment, software, supplies, etc. - 17.5%

Electrical and electronic equipment - 13.0%

Abrasives and hardware items - 8.9%

Clothing, etc. - 6.4%

Instruments and lab equipment - 5.9%

Communication, detection and related equipment - 5.7%

Furniture - 4.7%

Other - 37.9%