THE 'ARMYZON' EQUATION


COMPARISON SHOPPING Xerox printer cartridges were cheaper on Amazon than through the GSA’s Ad- vantage portal at the time of writing. Many more vendors sell through commercial online marketplaces, like those run by Staples and Walmart, so prices are some- times lower. (SOURCE: the author. Images courtesy of Amazon.com Inc. and GSA)


Congress mandated that the government establish a program to procure COTS items through e-commerce portals without creating a government-unique portal. Te purpose of shifting to commercial e-commerce is to expedite procurement, enable market research, enhance competition and ensure reasonable pricing.


Given the congressional mandate and how advanced industry is in regard to supporting government requirements, commanders could start purchasing from a commercial marketplace within six months of proposal. Te Amazon Business portal is working to become fully FAR-compliant and has done so at no cost to the government.


PUTTING IT TOGETHER As previously mentioned, there is no need to write a contract for COTS items already available on the marketplace. Te con- tract with Amazon to use its business portal would instead focus on configuring an application with Amazon’s existing portal to meet our government needs. Even with all that Amazon already


42 Army AL&T Magazine April-June 2018


has accomplished, there is still work to be done, but most of it is just software development.


First, we need credentialing. Te most sensible thing for DOD would be to use the almost-ubiquitous Common Access Card (CAC). Each card has a unique number and certificates. Tose could be tied together with a database to control purchasing per- missions, tying users to commands, budgets, accounts and so forth, much as CACs identify us in nearly everything else we do online.


Next, the platform would have to comply with the AbilityOne Program, which employs people who are blind or significantly disabled. Since Amazon already has certified small disadvan- taged business vendors, it would need to ensure that AbilityOne vendors are selling on Amazon Business as well. Tere also would need to be a way to ensure that vendors have the correct certifi- cation to classify themselves as such. I am by no means asking Amazon to certify all its vendors—with hundreds of millions of vendors that would be an impossible task. What needs to be in


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