The General Services Administration will now allow upfront payments for federal agencies buying software licenses delivered as Software-as-a-Service as part of an update to the Multiple Award Schedule.
GSA said Thursday the MAS update could encourage more small business resellers to offer software licenses delivered as SaaS and provide more flexibility for agencies that use MAS for software procurement.
“By giving the option of one invoice on a purchase that’s immediately delivered, we’re eliminating another administrative burden for our vendor and agency partners. This is a major milestone that reflects our strong commitment to helping agencies save money, advance their mission, and support small business at the same time,” said Tom Howder, acting commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA.
“Modernizing our approach to payment methods will reduce barriers and help agencies as they enhance and improve their IT operations in service of American taxpayers,” Howder added.
GSA said research and collected insights from agency buyers and sellers informed the MAS update, which applies to software licenses delivered as SaaS through the Information Technology Category special item numbers.
“This change means agencies can take advantage of paying upfront, and it will allow more small businesses to enter the government cloud market. We appreciate our industry partners and will maintain dialogue on cloud pricing best practices moving forward,” stated Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner of GSA’s IT Category.