1. THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CATEGORY HALLWAY
On The Acquisition Gateway
Tuesday, May 12, 2015

2. Agenda Background: Category Management & Acquisition Gateway
Professional Services Category Hallway Introduction & Demonstration

3. Background: The Case for Category Management
Fragmented landscape has led to contract duplication and redundant acquisition programs
More than 500 different acquisitions departments and agencies throughout government spending $500 billion annually
Redundancy is inefficient and drives up operating costs.  Must work together to capitalize on the buying power of the government
Expertise can be consolidated to provide expert acquisitions guidance
Category Management provides an overarching framework
Organized by spend categories, the categories guide buyers to the right acquisition solutions to meet their needs

4. Background: The Acquisition Gateway
The Acquisition Gateway is the online platform through which government will promote category management. The Gateway gains strength by including perspectives and solutions from all members of government.
Category management is defined by FAS Commissioner below:
Category management essentially looks at product or services categories the way a business might look at its own strategic business units, and then works on customizing purchase channels to better meet customer needs and market demands. Category management also provides deep-dive market analysis and addresses supply chain management; it can even help with changing behaviors, and reducing demand.
The Future FAS: Categorically the Right Thing to do for Taxpayers
Thomas Sharpe, Commissioner, Federal Acquisition Service on April 9, 2014
The Professional Services Government-wide Category

5. Professional Services Category Hallway: Purpose
The purpose of the Professional Services Category Hallway is to provide data transparency and decision-support tools to enable smart spending and improved requirements leading to better outcomes.
What is a Category Hallway?
It is a virtual environment where acquisition professionals can:
access information about their agencies’ spend
find contracting policies for products/services
locate preferred or mandatory contract vehicles
view best practices and communities of practice
evaluate market research and pricing tools, as well as FAS’s professional service contracts

6. Professional Services Category Hallway: Demonstration
Enterprise Solutions Matrix: Gathers best-in-class contract vehicles for side by side reference.
The buttons
View Historical Pricing Data
View Transactional Platforms
Statement of Work Library
Expert Articles
Visualizations
Templates
Resource links
Contracting Questions
Whitepapers
Information placed on the PS Hallway can only be accessed by the Federal community. One must have an active CAC/PIV card and be registered with OMB Max. In order to access the hallways, one must have the CAC card inserted and enter in the personal PIN associated with the card.

7. Professional Services Category Hallway: Demonstration
Home page
Contract Awarded Labor Category
Contrast pricing for labor categories
eBuy Open
Makes eBuy RFQ information public
Statement of Work Library
SOWs categorized by Professional Services

8. Highlight: eBuy Open Description
Link to Asset
Description
eBuy Open is an interactive web application that displays eBuy RFQ information to users and provides several filtering and search options, which enables users to quickly drill down to desired information
Characteristics
107,365 RFQs (as of 5/5/15)
Searchable
Filter by
Status
SINs
Schedules
Buyer Agency
How It Will Improve Over Time
Comments and feedback to
Value Proposition
Hard to overstate. A previously closed system is now available to the Federal community that it may benchmark and understand ongoing procurement.

9. Highlight: Contract Awarded Labor Category Tool
Link to Asset
Description
All vendor schedule awarded pricing data has been collected into one database. It contains the same information as GSA Advantage. CALC performs basic statistical analyses and makes it available via the web.
Characteristics
Awarded pricing is the same as GSA Advantage
Search by labor category
Filter by:
Minimum education level
Minimum experience (years)
Worksite
Business size
How It Will Improve Over Time
Greater statistical analysis capability
Advanced filtering
Value Proposition
CALC’s information saves COs hours when creating IGCEs and provides a broader look at market pricing.
Hallways.CAP.GSA.gov

10. Highlight: Statement of Work (SOW) Library
Link to Asset
Description
The SOW Library tool aims to make a repository of SOWs, PWSs and SOOs searchable via key word and browse-able via area of performance. Users will be able to upload SOWs as well.
Characteristics
Integrated into PS Hallway
700 keywords for search
9 professional services areas
Subsections
110+ SOWs
Customer upload available
GSA review of uploaded SOWs
How It Will Improve Over Time
Customers will upload SOWs improving selection
Rating for SOWs
Incorporate from eBuy Open
Source for initial set of SOW/PWSs is GSA.gov/sow
Value Proposition
Templates and language for use by contracting officers
Hallways.CAP.GSA.gov

11. Questions

12. Professional Services Category Team
Name
Title
Tiffany Hixson
Professional Services Category Executive
Geri Haworth
Professional Services Category Manager
Zachary Lerner
Professional Services Category Hallway Content Manager
Jonathan Evans
Product Owner, SOW Library
Kelly Bailey
Product Owner, CALC
Stephanie Kenitzer
Communications Manager
Jim Ghiloni
OASIS Program Director