Advanced Kiosks is happy to announce that we have been added as a vendor to the General Services Administration (GSA) Advantage! Online shopping website. Any Advantage! member gets 9% off of our products to ensure that government organizations get the absolute lowest price for their product.
So, what is the GSA?
The GSA is an organization that provides products, services, and facilities to federal agencies so that they may serve the public. They are responsible for helping federal agencies build office spaces, procure services and products, preserve historic federal property, and maintain policies on travel, property management, and efficient government operations. Only 1% of the GSA’s total budget comes from congressional appropriations. The majority of the cost is covered by the products and services it offers. It was founded on July 1, 1949, by President Harry Truman. It’s main values are:
- Deliver better value and savings
- Serve our partners
- Expand opportunities for small business
- More sustainable government
- Lead with innovation
- Building a stronger GSA
History of the GSA
And here is the history of GSA from 1949 to 2010, when the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act was established.
In 2010, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was established by the GSA to transform federal buildings into green buildings using mechanical upgrades to promote efforts in sustainability. One of their largest efforts was the installation of 30 vegetated “green roofs” that absorbs more of the sun’s heat to keep urban areas cooler, healthier, and less prone to flooding. These efforts decreased overall maintenance and operations costs, saving the American people over $68 million annually in utility costs alone. The GSA made buildings 22% more efficient, with affected facilities now using 27% less energy per square foot.
Since the ARRA, one of GSA’s largest successes, they have won several awards and taken on new initiatives. In 2012 the GSA was named to the Top 10 Best Places to Work in Federal Government by the Partnership for Public Service for the seventh year in a row. From 2012 to the present day, the General Services Administration has developed the Total Workplace Initiative, interact.gsa.gov, 18F, the acquisition gateway, the “Making it Easier” Initiative, and the Technology Transformation Service. In 2015, the GSA confirmed Denise Turner Roth as 39th administrator and made the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program permanent.
The GSA Advantage! Program
GSA Advantage! Is a part of the GSA website where approved vendors can sell their products at the best price. In order to qualify as a GSA vendor, you must apply as a responsible prospective contractor. GSA looks into:
- Price
- Performance
- Scope
- Financial capability
- Technical
- Subcontracting plan
- Other regulatory compliance
when accepting an applicant as an official GSA vendor.
Product requirements include “made in the U.S.A” and the company must have the adequate financial resources to perform the contract. The General Services Administration used “Open Rating” to conduct a customer survey as a means to determine certain factors such as reliability, cost, order accuracy, delivery, and timeliness. Our overall score was 89/100 based on several survey responses. Using our custom prices for the government and high customer rating we were approved as an official vendor. What does this mean?
The government approves these products, proving reliability and state of the art products. To learn more about how kiosks improve government operations, go to the following links.
White Paper: Improving Government Efficiency
Case Study: Austin Visitors Center