|
|
 |
ESRI
becomes the first software vendor to participate in the
General Services Administration (GSA) SmartBuy program.
SmartBuy is a GSA initiative to better manage software
purchases by the US Government while bringing significant
savings to federal agencies. As originally conceived,
the SmartBuy program will sign licenses with vendors for
software that agencies can then buy. The theory is that
these enterprise licenses will allow agencies to consolidate
purchases, thereby allowing the government to take advantage
of its buying power. Vendors have balked, though, for
reasons that range from concerns about sales volumes to
worries that certain companies will become the de facto
government standard and lock out competitors.
In the arrangement with ESRI, each agency that wants to
use the GIS software must negotiate its own enterprise
agreement with the vendor, for both immediate needs and
needs for the following four years, according to Kathy
Beasley, GSA's contracting officer for ESRI. That gives
the vendor a guaranteed volume over five years. The SmartBuy
agreement adds an additional discount over the GSA schedule
price.
GSA made the ESRI deal with three agencies that already
use the company's software and are immediate participants
in the SmartBuy program. The Agriculture Department, Census
Bureau and Interior Department can use the license now,
while the National Security Agency, the Environmental
Protection Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency plan to join soon.
The ESRI agreement will provide a potential cost savings
of $57 million during the life of the contract when compared
to nonvolume purchases using the General Services Administration's
schedule contracts, GSA officials said. |
|
|
 |
 |
Publicly
available federal geospatial information of little
unique use to terrorists, RAND study finds
Read More... |
| |
ESRI becomes
the first software vendor to participate in the General
Services Administration SmartBuy
Read More... |
| |
URISA
launches the The GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) and
its GIS Certification Program
Read More... |
| |
|
|
