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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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GSA to limit e-commerce buys to $10K maxGSA officials outlined more details regarding their e-commerce portals development, now called the Commercial Platforms Initiative. GSA intends to limit spending on the portals to $10,000 per order, which is the same as the current micropurchase threshold and much lower than what Congress allowed in the 2017 law authorizing the portals. Matthew Blum, associate administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, who spoke about the plan in GSA’s Federal Marketplace Industry Day, said the GSA is “talking to stakeholders, starting small, collecting data (and) understanding risks.”
Read more at: GSA meeting transcript: https://bit.ly/2GSCe7N GAO examines noncompetitive IT contractsFederal agencies obligate more than $15 billion a year on noncompetitive IT contracts, which is about 30% of total IT contracts, the GAO said in a report. The GAO said it had difficulty obtaining accurate competition information, with 22 of the 41 contracts examined containing errors in that area. The extent of competition in IT contracts has increased over the years, from 37% in fiscal 2013 to 43% in fiscal 2017. The main reasons cited for the non-competed contracts was that the agency was buying proprietary technology available from a single source, or was fulfilling small business goals.
Read more at: Fed’l contractor minimum wage now $10.60Under Executive Order 13658, the minimum wage rate for covered federal contracts increased to $10.60 per hour as of Jan. 1. In addition, tipped employees performing work on or in connection with covered contracts generally must be paid a minimum cash wage of $7.40 per hour. Separately, minimum wages rose in 20 states and more than a dozen cities on Jan. 1. Read more at: DoL Wage & Hour Division statement: https://bit.ly/2GRKvsF
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