**Proposed Organizational Design of**

**GSA's Federal Acquisition Service**

**May 31, 2005**

The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to combine the Federal
Supply Service (FSS) and the Federal Technology Service (FTS) into a
single organization to be called the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS).
After an intensive process of obtaining and weighing input and ideas
from our managers, customers, suppliers, and other policy makers, we
have developed a proposed design of that new organization.

In addition, we have reviewed GSA's financial management and information
technology functions, and propose changes to these that will allow both
to better support the proposed Federal Acquisition Service and GSA as a
whole. Although we believe that we have a sound design that will
strengthen GSA's performance in meeting the requirements of Federal
agency customers, we are seeking comments and suggestions from
stakeholders as we continue to develop our plans and move forward in
preparing for implementation.

# 

# Goals and Benefits

The new Federal Acquisition Service will offer unparalleled services to
customer agencies by providing innovative, compliant and integrated
solutions to today's acquisition challenges. Its key goal is to deliver
excellent acquisition services that provide best value, in terms of
cost, quality and service, for Federal agencies and taxpayers.

Today, the Federal government spends close to \$300 billion per year to
acquire products and services. Consequently, it is very important for
the government to take steps necessary to obtain greater value from the
Federal acquisition process. GSA is a cornerstone of this
government-wide effort, through this initiative to establish the FAS
organization, as well as through several other initiatives and
improvements already underway. The FAS will develop methods, contracting
vehicles, and opportunities \-- from government-wide solutions to
individual agency contracts and orders \-- that government buyers can
leverage to obtain best value solutions from a wide range of commercial
suppliers.

We look forward to working with GSA associates, Federal agency
customers, industry suppliers and others in the days and weeks ahead to
ensure that the proposed Federal Acquisition Service is a catalyst for
maximizing the value of each taxpayer dollar spent.

The proposed organizational design for FAS creates a customer-focused
organization, aligned with evolving customer requirements and industry
solution offerings. It supports strategic sourcing efforts across the
government. It provides for greater efficiency, effectiveness and
consistency in our internal operations. It strengthens compliance with
laws, regulations, policies and operating procedures across the agency.
The design requires and enables more teamwork and collaboration
throughout FAS and GSA. It places clear management responsibility and
accountability for achieving results in the major aspects needed for our
success, including: a deep understanding of our customers' requirements;
strong management of acquisition processes and programs; and integrated
business units that provide multiple channels for customers to obtain
the solutions they need.

The Federal Acquisition Service will operate on a cost recovery basis,
with accounting for cost and revenues for each business line. This
approach will continue as a primary driver for management to focus on
internal efficiencies and responsiveness to changing customer needs. FAS
will use a cost and capital planning process to plan and execute prudent
investments in programs (such as e-Travel and SmartBuy) that have the
potential to create significant government-wide benefits.

The proposed organizational design for the Federal Acquisition Service
will provide important benefits, including:

-   Best value (cost, quality and service) for the government and for
    taxpayers

-   Full compliance with relevant laws, regulations and policies

-   Strategic partnering to assist customers in making strategic choices

-   Consistent and positive customer experience, no matter which region,
    business or associate

-   Efficient and effective processes for customer agencies to obtain
    products and services from the marketplace

-   Efficient and effective processes for suppliers to provide products
    and services to the government

**Proposed Organizational Design for the New Federal Acquisition
Service**

Early in the process of developing the plan for combining FSS and FTS
into a single FAS organization, our Steering Team developed the
following guiding principles for the organizational design:

-   Provide clear lines of accountability for business results

-   Minimize redundancy of functions

-   Provide easy access for customers to reach our services

-   Facilitate matching workforce to changing workloads

-   Improve retention of key competencies in our workforce

-   Streamline/consolidate transaction processing to lower overhead
    costs

-   Support services should partner with business units

These principles shaped the proposed FAS structure (depicted within the
figure on the following page) and the policies, processes, and
procedures that will be incorporated into it.

###  

### Federal Acquisition Service

![](media/image1.wmf){width="6.375in" height="2.7930555555555556in"}

**\
**

**\
FAS Commissioner and Management Team**

Under the proposed structure, the Commissioner of FAS will have
authority and responsibility for the results of FAS on a GSA-wide basis.
This includes the responsibility for consistent application of policies,
procedures and operating practices at the national office and at each
FAS field activities unit.

The FAS management team will consist of the Commissioner and others at
the national program level, including the Business Portfolio managers,
the FAS Controller and IT Director, as well as members at the regional
level, including the GSA Regional Administrators and FAS Regional
Executives. While the full reporting structure remains under discussion,
collaboration of the FAS management team in strategic direction-setting,
planning, budgeting and program execution is critical to our overall
success.

**Customer Relationship Management**

Under the proposed structure, the *Customer Relationship Management*
(CRM) organization will play a very strong role in enabling FAS to
understand customer requirements for acquisition services and to become
a strategic partner in helping them meet those requirements.
Representing all of FAS business units, the CRM organization will
perform customer account management services and provide customers with
information about the range of acquisition vehicles and solutions that
FAS offers. It will also operate access points for customers, including
a call center and a web portal.

The CRM organization will be aligned to FAS' customer base. Customer
Account Representatives will be designated for specific government
departments. They will supervise national account teams supporting the
buyers within the departments and the subordinate agencies and bureaus.
Also, the national account teams will coordinate the work of the
regionally based CRM associates supporting their accounts with local
buyers. This top to bottom CRM linkage will support FAS' ability to
understand and support the requirements of its customers at every level.

In addition, the proposed CRM organization will offer customers data and
develop analysis regarding their purchasing patterns, in support of
strategic sourcing initiatives. FAS will work to make this data more
comprehensive, robust and useful for customers.

The proposed CRM national account teams will also be supported by
designated associates from the FAS business units. These "virtual" team
members will provide technical expertise for purchasers of specialized
products and services. At the national level, these supporting
associates will be drawn from the technical program development and
management staff of the national business line units. At the local
level, these associates would primarily be project managers from the
regionally--based business line units, who would take direct
responsibility for the execution of the orders received.

As a result of this proposed structure, every department and agency will
know the names of their FAS account representatives. The representatives
will seek to become advisors and partners with their designated customer
agencies. Technical expertise for specialized products and services will
be leveraged where necessary, but individual businesses will not have
independent "marketing" efforts. Pro-active customer contacts will be
coordinated, so agencies do not receive multiple overlapping visits from
FAS units.

Further, customers will be urged to address any issues or problems that
arise directly with the immediate business unit responsible. However,
customers may seek resolution through their designated CRM
representative.

## Acquisition Management

The GSA *Chief Acquisition Officer* (CAO), reporting directly to the
Administrator, is responsible for establishing all GSA acquisition
policy and overseeing its implementation. The CAO is also responsible
for establishing agency policy guidance on acquisition workforce
training, recruitment, and retention and for developing training
courses. As the CAO is outside the FAS chain of command, the CAO will
play an external oversight role for FAS.

Within FAS, the *Acquisition Management* (AM) organization will be
responsible for monitoring FAS operating practices and activities to
ensure that they are fully compliant with the CAO's directives and
appropriately consistent across business lines and regions. Accordingly,
the Acquisition Management organization will work closely with the GSA
CAO, with the individual FAS business portfolios and with the regional
offices to ensure that there are clear, consistent and enforceable
processes in place to award and administer contracts. The FAS
Acquisition Management organization will be responsible for monitoring
associate participation in training and for communicating FAS progress
in these areas to the CAO.

The proposed FAS Acquisition Management organization has several
critical functions, including:

1)  AM will ensure that the CAO's policy directives are implemented
    consistently within FAS, across all acquisition vehicles and units,
    throughout the Service.

2)  It will support the Contract Vehicle Review Board to ensure that
    acquisition vehicles developed within the business portfolios use
    standard practices and processes. The AM also will take
    responsibility for developing cross-portfolio acquisition vehicles
    when needed.

3)  AM will work in partnership with the GSA Chief People Officer (CPO)
    to ensure that the FAS acquisition workforce meets the professional
    standards and training requirements to be issued by the CAO.
    Further, AM, the CAO and the CPO will work to develop clear and
    attractive career paths to hire, develop, retain and advance career
    acquisition professionals and support staff. The quality of our
    acquisition workforce should be second to none.

4)  AM will conduct regular quality assurance inspections, to ensure
    that each FAS contracting unit is fully meeting regulatory
    standards. The CAO will also conduct periodic reviews to ensure that
    the AM's inspection process is thorough and accurate.

5)  AM will conduct post-award vendor reviews, to ensure that vendors
    meet the requirements of their FAS contract. In contrast, review of
    the substantive performance on task orders remains the
    responsibility of the ordering agency.

6)  AM will communicate with, and reach out to, vendors large and small
    to provide information about FAS' programs, ensuring that the
    Service maintains a strong partnership with industry.

**FAS Business Portfolios**

The proposed FAS organization contains three *Business Portfolios:*

-   Integrated Technology Services

-   General Supplies and Services

-   Travel and Personal Property Disposal Services

These portfolios will combine our existing business lines and
contractual vehicles to gain efficiency, leverage, consistency and
integration. Each portfolio will carry out a set of common functions as
described below. The existing business activities in FTS and FSS were
combined and rationalized into three business portfolios based on a
broad set of business principles:

-   Customer-centricity

    -   Maximize the value to customers by supporting strategic sourcing

    -   Provide customers a range of procurement mechanisms
        (self-service, assisted acquisition, government-wide buys) to
        obtain best value in a variety of situations

    -   Align with "how buyers buy" (i.e. related products and services
        together)

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   Leverage "like" business practices and processes

    -   Find commonalities and synergies, and reduce redundancies

    -   Drive and realize additional operating efficiencies over the
        near term

    -   Leverage investments in future processes for cost avoidance

    -   Establish clear management accountabilities for business lines

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   Reflect industry trends and structures

    -   Recognize pace and significance of convergence

    -   Facilitate integrated product and service solutions

    -   Enable updated business models for FAS and government

The primary responsibility of each portfolio will be to develop and
deploy acquisition solutions related to a set of products and services,
consistent with overall policies. They include traditional business
lines as well as integrated approaches across lines that meet evolving
customer needs more effectively and efficiently. Each portfolio will
include both a set of program managers and specialists, and a dedicated
contracting team.

Each portfolio will provide technical expertise support, as needed to
the national account teams of the CRM organization. At the national
level, this will enable FAS to offer customers specialists to help shape
agency-level purchases in highly technical areas. At the local level, it
will ensure that local buyers have contact with the project managers who
will handle execution of their orders.

Each portfolio has a contract planning and management function with
three primary functions:

-   Ensuring that the policy and planning guidance from the GSA CAO and
    the FAS Acquisition Management is applied consistently within the
    portfolio

-   Overseeing contracting for nationally-operated programs

-   Workload balancing, working across the operating units to ensure the
    effective utilization of resources.

**Integrated Technology Services**

The proposed *Integrated Technology Services* business portfolio will
combine the existing information technology, professional services, and
telecommunications business lines. It will manage the relevant
multiple-award schedules and GWACs, related assisted acquisition
services, and single-agency contracts where appropriate. Within this
portfolio, information technology and professional services will form a
single business line, and telecommunications will be another.

This structure is intended to provide several benefits:

1)  Customers may buy these products and services in a simpler process,
    from a unit that handles both. This reflects our customers' desires
    and industry trends. The combination of IT and professional services
    recognizes the frequent combination of these offerings.

2)  Combining management of the range of acquisition vehicles and
    programs in this product/service area will enable FAS to provide
    solutions that combine approaches to match the customer's needs. It
    will foster rationalization of the scope and number of vehicles to
    offer customer choice, without unnecessary duplication.

3)  It provides a common management that can respond to growing
    convergence in the IT and telecommunications industries over time

**General Supplies and Services**

The *General Supplies and Services* portfolio groups our business lines
that acquire a broad range of commercial products and some closely
related services, and our specialized logistics-based activities. This
portfolio includes the present Global Supply business line, freight
transportation and the management of schedules for non-IT products and
related services.

Our primary goal in putting this portfolio together is to strengthen the
government's ability to take advantage of strategic sourcing
opportunities. One thrust of this portfolio is to establish more
leveraged buys that offer better "deals" for the government in obtaining
commodity products and services, while maintaining opportunities for
broad competition. This group also will seek to develop ways to collect
better data on purchases made through our "self-service" (i.e. schedule)
mechanisms.

The second thrust is to provide integrated solutions that better align
customer and industry supply chains, recognizing opportunities for
improved customized delivery by suppliers with more efficient government
support. We will continue to support key clients with specialized needs
and buying processes.

Specifically, the proposed portfolio:

-   Provides a structure to rationalize the number and scope of
    schedules for products and logistics management advisory and
    operations support services

-   Serves as a single touch point for end-to-end procurement and
    logistics support

-   Supports customers with total product commodity-based requirements
    that is consistent with the scope of customer needs and their buying
    processes

**Travel and Personal Property Disposal Services**

The *Travel and Personal Property Disposal* *Services* portfolio
includes several business lines: Travel, the Relocation program, Vehicle
Purchasing and Leasing, Card Services and Personal Property Disposal.
While these operate with their own respective supplier industries, they
share several commonalities that provide opportunities for synergy and
scale. These include:

-   Heavy reliance on e-tools to interact with customers

-   Operated as national programs, conducting leveraged buys for
    government-wide use

-   Use of cards, to a large extent, as a common procurement channel

-   Emphasis on collecting and analyzing end user data to monitor
    compliance and spot future leverage opportunities

Although it has a sizeable field operation, vehicle leasing is closely
connected with the vehicle purchasing business and they will continue to
be managed together.

**FAS and GSA Financial Management Function**

The reorganization includes combining the FTS and FSS financial
management support offices into a single office within FAS. The GSA-wide
Financial Management function includes the GSA Office of the Chief
Financial Officer (OCFO), the FAS Controller, the GM&A Controller, and
the PBS CFO. This group will work together to leverage the financial
management function within each Service and across GSA. This will
facilitate building analytical capability, increasing efficiency in
financial management, and ensuring that the Services (FAS and the Public
Buildings Service) and staff offices receive the financial management
and related services they need.

The OCFO is positioned to become a strategic partner helping the
Services make business decisions, and to perform essential
responsibilities for good financial management across the agency, as
defined in the CFO Act. The design of the OCFO will enable it to support
timely decision-making and resource planning. Through business
intelligence and timely resource information, it will support
decision-making processes and provide insight into solution development.
Through knowledge of the business and service/product, it will support
acquisition product analysis. And by providing informed and
comprehensive cost analysis, it will assist in identifying best value
opportunities.

The OCFO, in conjunction with the FAS Commissioner, will comprehensively
evaluate and rationalize our fees for each business line and activity to
ensure best value for customers and full cost recovery of services. Both
in the near term and as an ongoing function, the OCFO also will evaluate
the potential efficiencies to be gained from consolidation of financial
management functions and processes performed in multiple units and
locations. The office will conduct continuous business process
evaluation, and develop strategies to streamline for effective and
efficient processing.

The OCFO will seek to develop and retain skilled staff for effective
analysis, planning, and execution. At the same time, we expect to see a
reduction in "shadow staff" performing redundant functions within
business lines and regions.

The FAS Controller organization reports directly to the FAS Commissioner
and indirectly to the CFO. The FAS Controller performs three main
functions (which are consistent with the functions of the Public
Building Service's CFO):

-   Planning and Performance Budgeting

-   Business Analytics and Consulting

-   Operations

Key responsibilities of the FAS Controller\'s office include
coordination and management of the performance management process within
the Service, management control functions, and financial management
support for regional FAS operations. The organizational redesign
positions the Controller to look for opportunities for efficiency and
consolidation in its own workforce, core systems, and processes while
seeking to increase service levels to the Business Portfolios and the
Regions.

**FAS and GSA Information Technology Function**

As with financial management, the reorganization includes combining
Federal Technology Service and Federal Supply Service information
technology functions to increase efficiency, ensure common approaches
where needed, and leverage specialized knowledge and skills.

The *Office of the Chief Information Officer* (OCIO) will provide
strategic leadership and oversight for information technology service
delivery within GSA. The CIO is responsible for GSA's infrastructure
operations, enterprise architecture, GSA-wide applications, information
security and information technology management services.

To ensure that the information technology functions effectively meet the
unique needs of the individual Services and larger staff offices, FAS,
the Public Buildings Service, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer,
and the Office of Citizen Services and Communications will each have an
Office of Business Solutions responsible for the delivery of business
applications specific to its respective organization. These Offices will
report directly to their respective Service Commissioner or Staff
Office, and indirectly report to the OCIO. There will be close
coordination across all agency systems projects to deploy best practices
and consistency, and to drive the OneGSA enterprise architecture.

By consolidating many IT functions, the OCIO gains functional synergies
and economies of scale for GSA. This consolidated IT organization will
deliver services through a "Shared Services" model. This model
establishes governance mechanisms to ensure specific service levels to
internal customers and monitor customer satisfaction.

The benefits of this new structure to our internal customers are many.
By consolidating functions, sharing resources, standardizing service,
and implementing and sustaining IT management best practices, it
provides best value. Similarly, it enables consistency of support across
Services, businesses and regions.

This strategic partnership approach combines the customer units'
understanding of their business needs with the CIO's comprehensive
understanding of industry trends. It provides an environment to develop
agile applications that support the unique business needs and
objectives, while including a secure, reliable, and scaleable
infrastructure and architecture.

**Next Steps**

Over the last three months we have undergone a comprehensive process to
develop the proposed design of the new Federal Acquisition Services. We
believe that this design will help us deliver excellent acquisition
services and best value for the government and the taxpayer. We believe
that it will position us to support the changing needs of our customers,
and to strengthen our consistency and compliance across our
organization.

We will look forward to your comments on this proposed design or on the
deeper organization levels that we are now examining. We would like to
receive comments by mid-June, so they can inform the next phase of our
design process that we expect to conclude by the end of July. During
that period, we will begin the process of selecting the new FAS
management team, who will have the responsibility for carrying out these
plans.