States face roadblocks in using GSA schedule.(General Services Administration)(Brief Article)

Set-Aside Alert, March, 2003

Nearly half the states will not be able to buy through GSA schedule 70 under GSA's proposed rule because of requirements of their own laws, a GSA official said.

The E-government Act of 2002 gave state and local agencies the right to buy information technology products and services through the schedule.

Neal Fox, assistant commissioner of GSA's Federal Supply Service, said state purchasing officers told him that 24 states have procurement laws that would preclude the use of the schedule without altering the contract terms. GSA's proposed rule says state and local buyers may add "no other terms and conditions" to standard schedule contracts.

"Many states might have some environmental law or another provision that must be inserted in each...

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