11 win MRO

     The General Services Administration awarded 23 contracts to 11 companies for the federal strategic sourcing initiative for Maintenance, Repair and Operations Supplies (MRO), according to a notice from a GSA contracting officer obtained by Set-Aside Alert.

     The 11 winners are:

• Capitol Supply Inc., Sunrise, FL;
• Galaxie Management Inc., San Diego, CA;
• Noble Supply & Logistics, Rockland, MA;
• MJL Enterprises LLC, Virginia Beach, VA;
• The Office Group Inc., Poquoson, VA;
• Premier & Co. Inc. New York, NY;
• WW Grainger Inc., Mt. Pleasant SC;
• SPS Industrial Inc., Winter Park, FL;
• SupplyCore Inc., Rockford, IL;
• WECsys LLC, Brooklyn Park, MN;
• Wrigglesworth Enterprises, Wilmington NC.

     According to the awards notice, the value of the contracts for Category 1, hardware, ranged from $2.1 million to $5.1 million. For Category 2, tools and cabinets, the values ranged from $482,000 to $847,000.

OASIS contract winners

     The General Services Administration named the winners of the “OASIS II” professional services contract-small business track. See the complete list here http://www.setasidealert.com/.

     The awardees of the unrestricted track are expected to be named by March 31.

House passes FITARA

     The House passed an expanded version of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) on Feb. 25 in a voice vote.

     The bill, co-authored by Reps. Darrell Issa, R-CA, and Gerry Connolly, D-VA, consolidates authorities for information technology budgets and hiring within a single chief information officer for each department.

     Currently, there are as many as 250 executives with full or partial CIO authority in federal agencies, which supporters say contributes to waste and duplication.

     There was a push to include an earlier version of FITARA in the defense bill last year, but it was unsuccessful.

     The new FITARA has been expanded to include the Defense Department for the first time. DOD CIO Teri Takai said the bill’s intent was laudable, but she said it raises concerns about oversight, according to FCW.

     “It is important to have transparency and it is important to have visibility even for us as CIOs, to better manage the overall expenditures. Unfortunately, [the bill] looks to try to manage that by additional oversight,” Takai said at a hearing.

More information:
FCW articles: http://goo.gl/F8t5Gl and http://goo.gl/SBdC4M