October 24, 2006 Contact: Jon Anderson 202-501-1231

PR 10289 jon.anderson@gsa.gov

**GSA Announces First FSSI Award**

WASHINGTON \-- The U.S. General Services Administration, co-chair of the
Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative, has made its first award under
this program, a Blanket Purchase Agreement for express and ground
domestic delivery service.

This award to FedEx Corporation will enable the Federal government to
realize significant savings and enjoy no fuel surcharges on their
domestic shipments. The award also provides for robust management
information reports to enable agencies to manage shipments more
efficiently and implement commercial best practices for additional cost
reductions.

"I want to congratulate GSA for its leadership on the Federal Strategic
Sourcing Initiative," said Paul Denett, Administrator of the Office of
Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget. "This
first award is a great step in the right direction. Substantial
discounts will be achieved as government agencies use this new agreement
for express and ground delivery services. Strategic sourcing helps the
Federal government take advantage of its combined purchasing power and
common business practices, resulting in more effective use of tax
dollars. We will work to identify additional services and goods where
strategic sourcing will help achieve savings for the taxpayer."

"This first award demonstrates what we've known all along about FSSI:
that it will achieve great value for government in pricing and quality,
enhanced business intelligence and improved management," said GSA
Administrator Lurita Doan. "Not only will it save significant taxpayer
dollars, but FSSI also sets a perfect example of how federal agencies
can work strategically with top notch suppliers to carry out our
missions."

Launched by the OMB, FSSI is co-chaired by the U.S. Department of the
Treasury and GSA, and counts more than 20 federal agencies, both
military and civilian, as active participants. FSSI's primary objectives
are to strategically source across federal agencies, establish
mechanisms to increase total cost savings, value, and socio-economic
participation; collaborate with industry to develop optimal solutions;
share best practices; and create a strategic sourcing community of
practice.

Current FSSI commodity teams include Express and Ground Domestic
Delivery Services, Wireless Handheld Devices and Services, Information
Technology (Printers), Copiers and Office Supplies.

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GSA is a centralized, federal procurement, property management, policy
development and information provision agency, created by Congress to
improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the
public. In this role, GSA acquires products and services on behalf of
federal agencies; plays a key role in developing and implementing
government-wide policies; provides services and solutions for the office
operations of more than one million federal workers; and encourages a
citizen-centric relationship with government by providing a single
\"point of entry\" to the information and services citizens need in a
timeframe they can appreciate. This allows citizens to receive accurate,
timely and consistent answers and information, and helps federal
agencies better respond to citizen inquiries.