Understanding Blanket Purchase Agreement or BPA
A BPA or Blanket Purchase Agreement is an acquisition method used by government agencies for various ordering activities. The simplified acquisition method allows the government agencies and vendors to trim down the excessive regulation in repetitive purchasing activities. Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) under GSA Schedules helps simplify and fulfill the requirements for selected commodities and services. It also provides leverage to the buying power of ordering activities in the form of discounts, reduced paperwork, and the saving of administrative time.
When to Use BPA
According to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) are allowed when the general purchase contains a wide range of items in a broad class of products or services. Federal agencies may also establish BPA when they need to provide commercial sources of supply for one or multiple projects. Agencies can avoid the hassle of writing multiple purchase orders with BPA. Without an existing requirements contract, agencies may use Blanket Purchase Agreements.
The Advantages of BPAs
Both the federal agencies and vendors will benefit from the excellent option offered by BPAs.
*The Schedule contractors and agencies will enjoy the huge discounts, convenience, and efficiency of using the buying power of Blanket Purchase Agreements;
*BPAs eliminate contracts and open market cost under its purchasing option;
*The acquisition method also opens windows of opportunities to reduce product or service costs with improved discounts;
*BPAs also reduce the administrative costs and satisfies repetitive purchasing requirements by eliminating recurring acquisition efforts;
*Significantly reduces acquisition lead time which also minimizes operation cost for the vendor and agencies;
*Allows ordering activities to include Contractor Team Arrangements (CTAs) and to influence buying power through volume purchasing method;
*Allows ordering activities to incorporate terms and conditions that are not in conflict under the contract; and
*Permits ordering activities with modernized ordering procedures.
These are just a few of the benefits you’ll enjoy under a BPA contract. For more information, check out our related pages.