GSA Advantage Attracts Many Browsers, Few Buyers GSA Advantage, the main online shopping mall for federal agencies, is attracting far more window-shoppers than buyers and needs a new business plan, the General Accounting Office reported. Since Advantage was launched in 1995, its sales have never accounted for even one-half of one percent of GSA Schedule sales, GAO said in its report, “Electronic Procurement: Business Strategy Needed for GSA’s Advantage System.” Although all GSA schedule contractors are required to post their catalogs on Advantage, about 12% of contractors had not done so as of September 2002. Vendors told GAO it can cost several thousand dollars to upload data on Advantage, particularly for complex products and services. “Such expenditures do not make sense, they say, if customers are not using Advantage to make purchases,” GAO reported. In response, GSA Administrator Stephen Perry said the agency is “in the process of developing a strategic business plan for GSA Advantage.” GAO said government buyers use Advantage primarily to compare prices for office supplies. “For fiscal year 2002, the top 10 schedule items in order of sales frequency included file folders, self-stick pads, multiuse paper, double pocket portfolio, inkjet toner, copy paper, binder clips, and 3-ring binders,” the report said. “Searches for services were far less frequent than for products, and most often were for training, security, maintenance, and consulting,” GAO added. The investigators said Advantage’s format is not well suited for the purchase of services, since a catalog often doesn’t provide buyers with the detailed information they need. GAO also found that Advantage’s newest feature, e-Buy, has largely been ignored by contractors. Agencies can post RFQs to all eligible vendors and receive responses online. Angela Styles, administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy has praised the system as “the best mix of competition and efficiency” available to federal buyers. (SAA, 12/13/02) But GAO said almost half the e-Buy RFQs drew no responses in fiscal 2002, the first year of operation. Agencies placed only 64 orders through the system during the year. GSA has scheduled a user group meeting on e-Buy April 17 at its Crystal City office in Arlington, VA. For details, contact Hope Brown at 703-305-6978 or Hope.Brown@gsa.gov.  The GAO report was requested by Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. The report, number 03-328, is available at www.gao.gov.