The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced progress in its ongoing efforts to strengthen the federal supply chain and reduce supply chain risk by using its Verified Products Portal (VPP) to monitor and remove products from unauthorized suppliers. Launched in 2020, the VPP is a manufacturer- and wholesaler-facing portal for authoritative product content such as standardized part numbers, product specifications, and supplier authorization information. Working with industry, GSA recently identified and removed approximately 75,000 items offered by unauthorized suppliers from GSA Advantage!® as part of a pilot test.
“This new process is a big win for the federal supply chain and our industry partners,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Sonny Hashmi. “We’ve reduced the risk of customers purchasing counterfeit, fraudulent, or otherwise illegitimate products. This promotes fair competition in the federal marketplace, and improves our customers’ ability to purchase with confidence.”
Moving forward, GSA will continue to use VPP data to monitor GSA Advantage!® for products offered by unauthorized suppliers.
GSA is also working with wholesalers and manufacturers to improve the representation of their commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products in the federal marketplace through better images, descriptions, PDFs, and other details to help federal agency buyers continue to purchase with confidence.
Manufacturers and wholesalers looking to improve the representation of their COTS products should visit gsa.gov/VPP to learn more.
