The General Services Administration issued a draft acquisition letter detailing procedures to authorize policy changes for purchasing consumption-based cloud services under the Federal Supply Schedule program, Federal News Network reported Monday.
“While offering cloud computing on a consumption basis is already permissible under the FSS program, the procedures outlined in this acquisition letter further improve this strategy while seeking to realize the best practices in the private-sector of cost transparency and efficiency, increased cyber security and more robust competition,” Jeffrey Koses, senior procurement executive at GSA, wrote in the letter.
The report said the draft document provides key concepts for the consumption-based approach to cloud services procurement. These include the use of a firm fixed-price contract that is based on the vendor’s market price list and the need for contracting officers to establish a ceiling price for all estimated cloud computing.
GSA also posed five questions to industry with regard to the consumption model and asked insights on the proposed “requirements task order” concept for consumption-based acquisitions.