Remove Dell, AdTrav & GSA As Mandatory Purchase Agents
Significantly reduce the role for the contract computer company (Dell), contract travel agency (AdTrav) and government purchasing agency (GSA) to restrict agencies purchasing decisions. First, these archaic purchasing schemes are obsolete in the internet era. While they may be useful for remote locations where UPS/FedEx do not deliver, they hinder many agencies purchasing ability to use the internet in finding the best ...more »
Significantly reduce the role for the contract computer company (Dell), contract travel agency (AdTrav) and government purchasing agency (GSA) to restrict agencies purchasing decisions.
First, these archaic purchasing schemes are obsolete in the internet era. While they may be useful for remote locations where UPS/FedEx do not deliver, they hinder many agencies purchasing ability to use the internet in finding the best deals for the government.
Secondly, they produce inferior products.
For example: GSA sells snow shovels that are so poorly designed ... our office staff would almost rather shovel snow with their bare hands than use the GSA supplied equipment.
Another Example: Our agency ordered a flight through AdTrav. Weeks later there was no confirmation. The week of the flight our admin staff contacted AdTrav again for confirmation. Apparently a $400 round trip flight half way across the country suddenly became a $2,100 flight...probably because the contractor AdTrav failed to make the booking until the last minute. If you allowed each agency to use online sources such as Kayak.com the result would be a big government savings.
Additionally: No one and I mean NO ONE should be Entitled to First Class Airfare (Generals,Admirals, SES positions). You think you deserve first class airfare... pay for it out of your own pocket !
Finally, Dell is not the worst computer company to order from...but its on the bottom 5 of my list. Give agencies computer purchasing rules...do not hamstring them in finding the best online deals/sources for high quality computer needs. This solution would be agency dependent as not all federal employees are computer savey.
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