Government list allows federal customers to acquire goods and services from pre-approved suppliers
Minneapolis — December 4, 2003 — PowerTrack, an electronic, business-to-business payment platform from U.S. Bank Corporate Payment Systems, was recently added to the GSA Federal Supply Schedules Contract list, which allows federal customers to acquire more than 4 million products and services directly from some 8,600 approved commercial suppliers.
In effect, this list allows agencies to buy goods and services — from approved vendors — without first having to navigate lengthy RFP processes. The GSA Federal Supply Schedules — also known as Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) — are contracts that cover a vast array of commercial items.
PowerTrack is U.S. Bank Corporate Payment Systems' electronic, B2B payment platform. The bank said that commercial and government organizations use PowerTrack to streamline B2B payment processes by enabling pre-payment audits, real-time exception identification, collaborative resolution and integrated accounts payable and accounts receivable processing.
U.S. Bank said that the contract represents a significant win for PowerTrack with federal agencies and that the contract would give PowerTrack access to a slew of state and local agencies that use the MAS as a basis for much of their procurement processes.
"We take pride in offering better solutions to support government services and missions, and we are excited about the opportunity to work with even more government agencies," said Richard Langer, general manager for PowerTrack.
Langer said that over the past six years U.S. Bank has developed strategic relations with service agencies throughout the Department of Defense, helping the DoD to save millions of dollars in transaction processing costs. "We have also assisted the General Services Administration, Department of State and Department of Homeland Security in making their payment processes more efficient," Langer added.
GSA awards MAS contracts to responsible companies that offer commercial items falling within the generic descriptions in the GSA Schedule solicitation. Government contracting officers determine whether prices are fair and reasonable by comparing the prices and discounts that a company offers the government with those that the company offers to its commercial customers. The negotiation objective is commonly known as "most favored customer" pricing.
"Whether you operate in the government circles or the commercial sector, seamless data integration and process automation are key factors in cutting costs from everyday business operations like billing and payment," Langer added. "PowerTrack delivers the capability to automate the entire payment process."
According to the bank, PowerTrack processes more than 17 million electronic trade documents annually, with more than 21,000 registered users from more than 2,200 geographic locations worldwide.
