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major update that’s in the works will allow for individual sites or regions within agencies, Woytek says.
“Right now, catalogs are only at the agency level,” she says, “which is limiting their potential use.”
Another plan is to create other commodity catalogs beyond the GSS laptops and desktops that
all customers can use, review and possibly purchase from. Such things as a printer catalog would allow all available printers that meet a certain set of pre-defined requirements to be viewed by agency buyers.
Woytek cautions that the catalogs are meant to supplement the overall SEWP process, which better accommodates customized needs and changing requirements for complex solutions.
McCurnin says agencies’ use of the catalogs is already increasing. There is “significant growth” in the use of the GSS catalog because SEWP is more flexible than other contracts in the way it adds products to the catalog.
“Everything is still very custom build,” McCurnin says, even with the low, medium and high GSS specs. “There is still a lot of variation in the flavors of those that agencies need, and SEWP makes it easier to provide for that.”
As agencies become more familiar with catalogs and the benefits they provide, “we fully expect their use will only grow, and substantially so,” she says.
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SEWP V
A Quarter Century On, SEWP Is Evolving to Meet Customer Demand
The 10-year, $30 billion SEWP V contract, the latest version in the 25-year history
of SEWP, focuses on selling basic IT products, such as desktop computers, servers, laptops and tablets, and peripheral equipment. It also has added security solutions to its portfolio.
For FY 2017, SEWP V booked $3.8 billion
on 32,000 orders, up from the $3.1 billion
on 29,000 orders the previous year. That’s indicative of buyers using SEWP V for more consolidated and strategic purchasing, according to Joanne Woytek, SEWP program manager. It also reflects the trend of using the contract as a source of strategic solutions.
Regardless, SEWP users still tend to purchase laptops and desktops as separate purchases, tied to their particular needs. There “is still a lot of education to be done” to convince agencies of using standardized solutions, Woytek says.