Will Strategic Buying Hurt Small Vendors? Federal agencies will be told to expand their strategic buying of commodity items to take advantage of the government’s market clout. The initiative, to be launched in the next few months, will be a “radical” change in the way the government buys everyday items, said David Safavian, administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy. But he insisted that the initiative will not freeze out small vendors. Within a few months, Safavian said, his office will direct each agency to pick three commodity items and establish a strategic sourcing council to decide how to centralize procurement of those items – anything from computers to paper clips, as he put it. “We are working to leverage our massive buying power to get the best value for the taxpayer,” he said, and agency chief acquisition officers will need “a silver-plated justification” for not using strategic sourcing. Safavian spoke at a Federal Sources Inc. conference in McLean, VA, April 12. He cited the SmartBuy initiative, a GSA program to negotiate governmentwide software licenses. None of the largest software makers has signed up yet, although Safavian said a deal with Oracle Corp. is close and negotiations with Microsoft are continuing. He said the Networx telecommunications contract, now in the planning stages, is another example. In answer to a question, he said strategic sourcing does not have to be bad for small business if it is done right, but he acknowledged it will be up to contracting officers and agency leaders to protect the interests of small firms: “It’s very easy to lapse into lowest price, bundled contract, and shut out small business entirely.” He said the Agriculture Department and the Postal Service have implemented strategic buying without hurting small vendors.