General Services Administration official Laura Stanton provided updates on the Governmentwide Microsoft Acquisition Strategy, or GMAS, of the IT Vendor Management Office, or ITVMO, as part of advancing priority 2 of the Better Contracting Initiative to transform the government IT procurement process.
In a blog post published Thursday, Stanton, assistant commissioner for the Office of IT Category at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, wrote about the launch of the GMAS initiative in 2023 to establish a strategic partnership between Microsoft and the government by standardizing government contract terms and pricing for Microsoft products and services.
According to Stanton, GMAS seeks to “consolidate best-in-class terms into a universal term sheet that agencies could apply to any government buying vehicle.”
“With best-in-class terms and enhanced cybersecurity standards, all government agencies, large and small, would benefit from the U.S. government’s size and weight, and avoid the inefficiencies of negotiating certain contract terms at each procurement,” the assistant commissioner added.
ITVMO’s Work on GMAS Initiative
In the blog post, the GSA official shared that ITVMO conducted a price analysis, compiled a list of more than 150 contract terms and conditions that are candidates for standardization and helped whittle that list down to 24 items by hosting a Civilian Services Acquisition Workshop.
Stanton mentioned that ITVMO and the Office of Management and Budget discussed the government’s requests with Microsoft’s federal division. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency also collaborated with the technology company’s cyber teams to talk about the critical security standards that GMAS intended to achieve.
“Having spent the last six months working with Microsoft, the government is pleased with the emerging alliance. Clearly, both sides value the other as a critical partner, as demonstrated by the willing collaboration of the GMAS effort,” she wrote.
The GSA official said ITVMO plans to launch similar efforts with other IT original equipment manufacturers in fiscal year 2025.
