ISSA recently took to Capitol Hill to voice concerns over the General Services Administration's handling of its Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative — especially as it applies to the jan/san industry.

At the present, GSA is implementing strategic sourcing in the JanSan sector in three phases: through the purcashing channel; the requisition channel; and through building maintenance operations, which includes commercial cleaning services.

The measures are expected to reduce the number of current vendors from about 900 to about 30 jan/san contractors.

“Not only will such an approach have a devastating impact on hundreds of JanSan vendors who have invested substantial resources in order to do business with the federal government, but ultimately GSA’s approach will erode our industrial base as it implements strategic sourcing across broad industry commodity lines,” says Bill Balek, ISSA director of legislative affairs.

 

According to Balek, ISSA represenatives — accompanied by members of DC Legislative and Regulatory Services (DCLRS) — met with the staff of several key legislators including Rep. Mulvaney (R-SC), Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA), Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Rep. Bentivolio (R-MI).

In each of the meetings, ISSA sought the support for a letter from legislators to GSA requesting the agency to account for its failure to abide by the Small Business Act, which requires the agency to assess the impact to small business when implementing such an acquisition strategy.

All of the meetings were positive, as the Hill staffers indicated their general support for such a letter to GSA which would place political pressure on the Agency to account for its omissions, Balek adds.

In addition, ISSA and DCLRS laid the groundwork for a legislative remedy including the possibility of some appropriations language or Defense Authorization language requiring GSA to cease the implementation of FSSI until it revises its approach to account for the anticipated negative impact to small businesses, and devise an acquisition strategy that maximizes opportunities for the small business community.

DCLRS has drafted a letter on behalf of ISSA and the cleaning industry that will be used on the Hill directing GSA to properly assess the impact of FSSI to small businesses so that they can devise an acquisition strategy.

To learn more about the GSA's latest proposal, read "Capitol Gains, Distributor Losses."

To read ISSA's account of their visit to Washington, D.C., click here.