GSA to review pricing policies on schedules.

An advisory panel representing government and industry is reviewing pricing policies on GSA schedules.

"The (Multiple Award Schedules) Panel will provide independent advice and recommendations to GSA on pricing and price reduction provisions of the MAS program," GSA said. "The Panel will review

the most favored customer provisions, price reduction policies and provisions, and current commercial pricing practices. The panel will determine what changes, if any, to these policies and provisions are required or advisable to ensure that FAS negotiates prices that enable federal customers to award orders that represent "best value' and result in the lowest overall cost alternative."

GSA schedule contractors are required to offer the government the same prices they give to their most favored commercial customer. The price reduction clause requires that the government must be offered the same discounts as any commercial customer.

The pricing rules were established decades ago, when the schedules dealt primarily in commodities. Since services now account for the majority of schedule sales, some industry groups have said the pricing policies should be revised.

Several large vendors, including Sun Microsystems and Canon, dropped their schedule contracts after disputes with GSA over pricing.

But Congress's leading procurement watchdog is skeptical. House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-CA, said, "An initiative to eliminate or weaken the [price reduction] clause could significantly in crease costs to the taxpayer." Waxman asked GSA administrator Lurita Doan for more information about the panel.

The panel is chaired by Elliott Branch of the Defense Department. Its members include 11 from government (five of them from GSA) and four industry representatives: Alan Chvotkin of the Professional Services Council, Larry Allen of the Coalition for Government Procurement, Donald Erickson of the Security Industry Association and Jeffrey Johnson of the International Facility Management Association.

The panel will hear public comments at two open meetings in Washington: on Monday, May 5, at the American Institute of Architects, 1725 New York Ave. NW, and Thursday, May 22, at GSA headquarters, 1800 F St. NW.