State, Local Buyers Not Sold on GSA Schedules State and local governments are slow to take advantage of their right to buy IT products and services through the federal GSA Schedule 70 – in many cases because they don’t consider it an advantage. GSA reported state and local buyers spent about $33 million on schedule purchases from October 2003 through February 2004. The market research firm Input estimates that is less than 1% of state and local IT expenditures. Congress passed legislation in 2002 allowing states and localities to use the IT schedule. An interim rule implementing the law went into effect in May 2003. But the so-called cooperative purchasing program has attracted few buyers. “So far, the perception states have of GSA Schedule 70 has not been positive,” the Input report said. Input reports that many state purchasing officers believe GSA contracts are not providing the best value and that they can find lower prices by competitively bidding their contracts. Some states require competitive bidding before an agency can use the GSA schedule or require home-state companies to get the first chance at contracts, but Input said efforts are underway to repeal some of those state laws. Input found states have used the schedule primarily for small procurements, in part because the schedule includes so many small-business sources. “Due to these challenges and the many federal purchasing terms imposed on state buyers by Schedule 70, we are likely to see states continue to make big purchases using their own competitive process,” said Marcus Fedeli, Input’s manager of state/local products. “Despite the reported benefits in procurement cost savings, historical jurisdictional friction often causes state governments to avoid undertakings with the federal government.” Input added that cooperative purchasing could “increase exponentially” if legal barriers were removed and if communications improve among GSA, its vendors, and state and local buyers. .