As suppliers, we are told over and over that all federal opportunities valued at $25,000 or more appear on FedBizOpps. Is this truly the case? And what about opportunities under $25,000?

In the last issue, we discussed DIBBS – the Defense Logistics Agency’s Internet Bulletin Board System. That application is used by DLA to post Requests for Quotes for small and medium procurements of items managed by the DLA’s subcommands in Philadelphia, Richmond and Columbus.

The Defense Department EMALL (https://dod-emall.dla.mil/) is operated by the DLA on behalf of the department and lists opportunities for many of the same types of products as in DIBBS.

The DOD EMALL is a catalog-based e-commerce site. It started out in 1999 with a few million items and has listed over 65 million items over its 15-year life. Products must be commercial, off-the-shelf, finished goods. Neither customized products nor services are allowed through this vehicle.

What is sold on DOD EMALL?

The DOD EMALL features items from DLA’s categories of commodity responsibilities, including:

• Hardware
• Law Enforcement and First Responder supplies and equipment
• Automotive and Industrial Supplies
• Food Preparation and Serving Equipment

The categories are not all-inclusive; within each category, there are exceptions and limitations. For example, neither tires nor ammunition are allowed in DOD EMALL. Nor are items sourced from the Ability One program or items from unacceptable foreign sources.

In order to have a contract with DLA on DOD EMALL, you have to make an offer in response to a DLA solicitation. The current DLA solicitation for each category is available at http://www.logisticsinformationservice.dla.mil/ by clicking on the “EMALL” link.

How does EMALL work?

DOD EMALL works like GSAAdvantage. It is a Web-based site where contractors post their catalogs with item descriptions, pricing, delivery and National Stock Numbers when available. Pricing must be FOB (Free On Board) destination. Pricing may include quantity discounts and delivery zone variations. Contractors must keep their catalogs up-to-date, under DOD EMALL policy.

Who is eligible to participate?

To participate in DOD EMALL, contractors must have an existing government IDIQ contract for a range of acceptable products. A General Services Administration schedule contract or Blanket Purchase Agreement and/or a DLA IDIQ contract are the most common. The contract must be a term contract and not from a one-time Request for Quote, delivery order or task order. The contract award must have been posted on FPDS-NG.

To be eligible, potential contractors must be registered in the SAM.gov database and not be listed on the Excluded Parties List. The vendor must agree to the DOD EMALL’s “Business Rules and Agreement to Sell on DOD EMALL.” Suppliers must offer their entire catalog of products, excluding those outside DLA’s scope of managed items or which DLA has specifically rejected.

Contractors must have a sponsoring Contracting Officer from the DOD EMALL Program Management Office or an active DOD EMALL customer. Hosting of the contractor’s catalog must be approved by the sponsoring contracting officer, as certified on the form provided in the Supplier Information Package.

Who can shop at DOD EMALL?

Anyone can shop on the DOD EMALL by registering, but shoppers cannot order until they are registered as orderers and confirmed with their Common Access Card. You can shop around on DOD EMALL to see if your competition or your suppliers and distributors are posting products on the site.

Buying at DOD EMALL

Orderers may order and pay for their orders using a government credit card or through MILSTRIP. Orderers log in to the site, shop the catalogs and then order through the site’s ordering mechanism. DOD EMALL then transmits the orders to the appropriate contractor for shipment direct to the orderer/consignee address.

Contractors must be able to accept orders through one of these three interfaces: EDI, encrypted cXML or secure PGP. You must confirm receipt of the order by email to the orderer within one day, stating estimated ship date or describing back-order status. Orderers may cancel when an order cannot be fulfilled within the delivery time quoted in the catalog listing.

Contractors receive payment from agency customers by invoice through DOD’s Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF) portal. Contractors do not receive payment directly from orderers using government credit cards. Properly submitted WAWF invoices are generally afforded treatment under the FAST program.

Minimum sales requirement

As with GSA schedule contracts, there is a minimum sales requirement. For the DOD EMALL, this requirement is $12,500 per year. Contractors that fail to meet that minimum can be terminated.

Advice for vendors

For vendors of commonly-used, off-the-shelf products, this is a great tool for reaching the DOD market. In past years, Navy contracting/ordering personnel have been the largest user of the DOD EMALL, but civilian agencies are also authorized to buy through this mechanism. As with GSA schedules, DOD EMALL represents a hunting license but contractors must be careful to live within the rules prohibiting mass emails, harvesting of email addresses and unsolicited customer contact. Also, there are some limitations on how often prices can be adjusted under the contracts, so evaluate this option thoroughly before jumping in.

Tom Johnson is the publisher of Set-Aside Alert and president of Business Research Services. You can reach Tom at tjohnson@setasidealert.com.