The General Services Administration wants to be a "highly-synchronized" agent that helps the government get what it wants, when it wants it, said GSA Administrator Martha Johnson. 

"We have agencies coming to us and saying, 'Could you just help us scrub our procurement and understand where we might have more opportunities?'" said Johnson during a March 15 press briefing at IRMCO in Washington, D.C.

"Agencies don't necessarily have all of the ability to analyze their procurement," said Johnson.  

"These are the kinds of things we see over and over and over again. I think in that sense we can be good consultants. We can advise people on whether their procurements are structured well, whether they're taking advantage of [every resource]," she added.

GSA is "trying to push people to really think about what stuff they need to own," and encourage agencies to adopt a services acquisition model, whereby agencies don't contract directly for products, she said.

Upgrades are also underway at the agency. The GSA schedules need a face lift, admitted Johnson, and acquisition systems need to be more customer friendly and integrated.

Another role GSA is emphasizing is that of meeting organizer, by bringing federal agencies together for "slams." A slam places several entities in a room together for several hours to find a solution and plan the solution's implementation, said Johnson. The agency was most recently involved in a slam session with the Defense Department, NASA and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, on speeding up changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

"We sat down and said, 'What are the biggest issues in this process?' Because everybody sees pieces of it. Very few people see the whole thing," said Johnson.

For more: 
- listen to the press briefing

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