Safety in Numbers

Sometimes it’s a good thing to share the spotlight.

Among the commenters responding to a Web article posted last week about EMC Corp. and Canon USA decisions not to renew their General Services Administration Schedule contracts was this one from Josh Zecher, a spokesman for 463 Communications, the public relations firm used by Sun: "Perhaps, the criticism of Sun will wane some now as others are running into the same roadblocks."

Indeed, the auditors in the IG’s office might want to ask themselves: Are the results from their actions running counter to their intentions? It’s difficult to criticize an agency for being meticulous about the rules, but when those rules push out some of the biggest suppliers of IT in the federal market, one has to wonder whether it’s time to re-evaluate. Bob Laclede, vice president and general manager of government and education at IT distributor Ingram Micro (and the subject of a blog item posted yesterday) might have said it best in an email correspondence earlier this week:

[These] are major vendors who have dropped their GSA schedule. Will this drive other vendors to do the same? Will it discourage other new vendors from entering the federal market? And then, will this just discourage usage of GSA contracts and move the business to the other IDIQ vehicles? We obviously do not want any abuses or irregularities on GSA Schedules. But I have to wonder if GSA will just end up driving more business away.