A virtual town hall meeting addressing the current Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) and its impact on small business will be held on Tuesday, July 30 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. eastern standard time.

The event is hosted by representatives of the American Legion, an organization that represents thousands of veteran-owned small businesses that will be adversely impacted by FSSI.  To attend the July 30th broadcast, click here.

The event will include discussions regarding the real cost of the FSSI and a review of the GSA and OMB’s position on FSSI, the SBAs position on mandatory FSSI as well as the industry’s stand.  Guests will include Bill Balek, director of legislative affairs, ISSA; Todd Mulvenny, CEO of American Sanitary Products; and Billy Jenkins, chairman of the American Legion Small Business Taskforce and vice-president of Skyline Ultd Inc.

If you visit the BlogTalkRadio website before the event, you can activate several options for a reminder email or text message and the site automatically adjusts for your time zone.  No registration is required. The listener dial-in number for the event is 424-222-5334.

Distributors in the janitorial and maintenance supply industry who are interested in actively participating in the town hall by sharing how the JanSan FSSI will adversely impact their business can contact Bill Balek at ISSA at bill@issa.com for more information.  Others can participate in “listen-only” mode during the event.

For more information and updates about JanSan FSSI & MRO FSSI, visit http://www.JanSanFSSI.com.

Background on JanSan FSSI
If implemented as planned, ISSA expects implementation of FSSI in the Jan/San sector to have a substantial adverse economic impact on association members that currently do business with the federal government.

Under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI), the GSA is working with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and all Federal Government Agencies to create new government-wide Federal Strategic Sourcing programs (FSSI) for commonly purchased products and services.

In August, 2013, it will impact Janitorial and Sanitation supplies (JanSan) and Maintenance, Repair & Operations Supplies (MRO).  The number of GSA contracts for JanSan vendors will be reduced to just 15. These Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) will be awarded to the 15 JanSan vendors with the lowest price and federal agencies will be mandated to purchase JanSan supplies from these awarded vendors.  Of those 15, only three vendors will be chosen for Cleaning Compounds and Related Dispensers.

In 2014, it will impact Building Maintenance & Operations Services (BMO).

ISSA is working with members of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce to try and forge a legislative remedy that would mitigate the adverse economic impact FSSI will have on the Jan/San community.

In the meantime, GSA recently announced that it expects to release the final draft of its RFQ that will implement FSSI in the Jan/San sector by late July or early August.

The current draft RFQ is posted online here.