Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) and Level 3 Processing

In  March of 2012 the GSA published a presentation that clarified the relationship between the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) and the need for Level-3 financial data. Entitled “Point-Of-Sale Discounts for SmartPay® Cards,” it can be accessed here.

The GSA is considering making Level-3 mandatory for Schedule participation. They lay these out 0n Slide 12 of the presentation, under “GSA Future Steps/Opportunities.” The two steps specific to Level-3 Data are:

• “Requirement that Schedule price discounts be reported via Level-3 data regardless of the method of sales (Card-Present, Card-Not-Present or Electronic Commerce).”
• “Establishment of a Level-3 data reporting format for merchants.”

Several schedules have mandated level 3 and buyers are already being encouraged to choose vendors who have the ability to pass level 3 data.

Level-3 transactions will soon be required for participation on a GSA Schedule,  Stay ahead of the curve and set up a level 3 merchant account today.

Revolution Payment Systems specializes in level 3 processing can has made it very easy for merchants to set up a level 3 merchant account while taking advantage of the incentive pricing.  If your using quickbooks and need to process level 3, Revolution payments can support quickbooks level 3.

Questions? Call 888 790 3450 or email [email protected]

Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI)

Strategic sourcing is the structured and collaborative process of critically analyzing an organization’s spending patterns to better leverage its purchasing power, reduce cost and improve overall performance. The primary goals of FSSI are:

• Strategically source across federal agencies;
• Establish mechanisms to increase total cost savings, value, and socioeconomic participation;
• Collaborate with industry to develop optimal solutions;
• Share best practices; and,
• Create a strategic sourcing community of practice.

Federal government purchasing is decentralized, and there are duplicative contracts over many organizational components. There is limited procurement; i.e., the number of contracts, the prices paid on the contracts, or other existing government wide or agency-wide solutions. This results in significant price variations across the government for the same products or services, sometimes with the same contractor.

FSSI has been implementing strategic sourcing solutions for the government since 2005.  FSSI has proven results that include cost savings, improved management visibility and adoption of industry and government agencies best practices. FSSI has helped improve government management of commonly purchased goods and services.

FSSI solutions provide easy access to its procurement vehicles, which offer business intelligence, best practice solutions, and greater discounts with volume increases. Additional benefits include:

• Fulfills OMB’s requirement for cross-government FSSI participation;
• Assists with socioeconomic goals;
• Collects and analyzes data;
• Identifies trends;
• Re-engineers business processes;
• Replicates cost-saving business processes;
• Shares lessons learned and best practices;
• Realizes cost efficiencies;
• Streamlines procurement process; and,
• Drives additional discounts.

Current FSSI commodity solutions include:

• Express and Ground Domestic Delivery Services (FSSI DDS2);
• Office Supplies (FSSI OS2);
• Print Management (FSSI PM); and,
• Wireless Telecommunications Expense Management Services (FSSI TEMS).

FSSI commodity solutions coming soon:

• Wireless (FSSI Wireless);
• SmartBUY (FSSI SB 2.0); and,
• Information Resources (FSSI IR)*.

* The Library of Congress is the executive agent for this FSSI solution.