Commercial Platforms Initiative

Not surprisingly, GSA’s resources have shifted to support the COVID-19 response, and we’re having to prioritize certain activities to support the immediate needs of the federal government. As a result, the contracting team for the Commercial Platforms proof of concept has also had to shift their focus to COVID-19 response efforts. A delay is anticipated in the contract award to e-marketplace platform providers for the proof of concept. We will continue to move forward as we are able, recognizing that many of our acquisition professionals are prioritizing COVID-19 response work over other acquisition initiatives. Our goal is to make the contract award in the coming months.

Yesterday GSA issued a solicitation to request proposals from e-marketplace portal providers meeting the business-to-business requirements of the Proof of Concept for the Commercial Platforms program. The program seeks to modernize how commercial products are bought via the open market by federal agencies through partnerships with commercial e-marketplace platform providers, while helping our agency partners gain better visibility and insights into their online spend.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our varied stakeholders for their review and feedback regarding the draft solicitation for the Commercial Platforms proof of concept. Responses to many of the questions received regarding the draft solicitation are posted here on the FBO.gov website.

As many of you are aware, the draft solicitation for the initial Commercial Platforms proof of concept was posted to FedBizOpps (FBO) for review and public comment on July 2, 2019 and will remain open through August 1st, 2019. While this information is geared toward portal providers, I would encourage all interested stakeholders to review this document.