It’s been more than three months since GSA released the new Consolidated Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation. There have been a few changes in that time and GSA plans to issue a refresh any day now to incorporate those changes.
GSA MAS Solicitation Refresh #1 Will Cover:
- Implementation of the 2nd Interim Rule 2018-017 Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment
- Expiration and removal of FAR 51 Deviation Authority
- Re-mapping a few legacy Special Item Numbers (SINs) to new SINs
- Acknowledging retirement of the Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation Report
- Required updates to current contract clauses/provisions
2nd Interim Rule on Prohibited Telecom
We wrote about the Covered Telecom mass modification (mod) back in October. This mass mod was released to incorporate FAR clauses related to the first interim rule that—spurred by national security concerns—prohibited federal agencies from procuring or obtaining, “any equipment, system, or service that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system.” A second interim rule was released last month that reduces the representation requirements set in the original rule. The latest change allows contractors to represent if they offer covered telecom annually in SAM, and also allows them to skip offer-by-offer representation if they do not provide covered telecom equipment and services. Solicitation Refresh 1 will update the relevant clauses to reflect this second interim rule.
Expiration of FAR 51 Deviation
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clause 51.1 details the circumstances in which a contractor can purchase from “government supply sources”, as well as the procedures for doing so. Under FAR 51.1 a contracting officer can authorize a contractor to purchase through a government contract to obtain supplies or services required for a government cost-reimbursement contract.
In 2009, a class deviation was approved that expanded the authority to use government supply sources. The FAR 51 deviation allowed federal contracting officers to authorize GSA Schedule Contractors to purchase from other GSA Schedule Contracts or the Global Supply program to fulfill a time-and-material or labor-hour basis order. Since this deviation expired on October 23, 2019, Refresh 1 will remove the clause from the new MAS Solicitation. However, the FAR 51 Deviation can still be used on any orders and BPAs issued before the deviation expired, through the life of those order, including options.
Moving forward, companies can utilize the Order-Level Materials (OLM) SIN to secure products and services in support of GSA Schedule orders. You can read more about the OLM SIN here.
SIN Mapping Changes
The Legacy Office Services SIN listed in the chart below will now map to the newly created SIN 33990SVC, instead of SIN 339940.
Legacy SIN | Old Mapping | New Mapping |
75 210 – Office Services | 339940 – Office Products | 339940SVC – Office Supply Support Services |
SIN Mapping Additions
Prior to Refresh 1, there were a few legacy SINs that mapped to more than one new SIN. With the rollout of Refresh 1, this list is expanding. The chart below lists the additional legacy SINs that now map to multiple new SINs. The SINs in bold are recent mapping additions.
Legacy Schedule | Legacy SIN | New SIN Mapping (Refresh 1 Changes in Bold) |
00CORP | 871 1 | 541330ENG – Engineering Services; and 541715 – Engineering Research & Development & Strategic Planning |
00CORP | 871 2 | 541330ENG – Engineering Services; and 541715 – Engineering Research & Development & Strategic Planning |
00CORP | 871 3 | 541420 – Engineering System Design & Integration Services; and 541715 – Engineering Research & Development & Strategic Planning; and 541330ENG – Engineering Services |
00CORP | 871 4 | 541380 – Testing Laboratories; and 541715 – Engineering Research & Development & Strategic Planning; and 541330ENG – Engineering Services |
03FAC | 871 211 | 541690E – Energy Consulting Services; and 541690 – Integrated Logistics Support |
Additional SIN Changes
In addition to re-mapping a few legacy SINs, GSA also made slight adjustments to two SIN titles and created a new SIN:
- SIN 332510 went from “Hardware Manufacturing (Hardware Store Services)” to “Hardware Manufacturing (Hardware Store, Home Improvement Center, or MRO – Services)”
- SIN 325320 went from “Pest and Animal Control Products” to “Pest and Animal Control Products & Services”
- SIN 339940SVC, Office Supply Support Services was created
Retirement of Open Ratings PPE
Last month, Dun & Bradstreet Open Ratings announced they would no longer accept orders for Past Performance Evaluation (PPE) Reports. We covered this in greater detail in our post here. The MAS Solicitation Refresh #1, acknowledges that the PPE in no longer an option, but allows companies to still submit PPE reports dated within one year of proposal submission.
Required updates to current contract clauses/provisions
GSA MAS Solicitation Refresh #1 includes several minor changes to update contract clauses and provisions. For example, some changes include the:
- removal of references to hard copies
- update of referenced clause numbers
- clarification of clauses
- deletion of extraneous clauses.
You can view all of the changes incorporated in Refresh #1 within the “Draft Significant Changes” document posted on Interact.