Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) Program

1. Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA)Program Office of Acquisition and Logistics Management

2. BPA Program • The NIH BPA Program was established in the late 1980s when it was discovered that the NIH was paying list price for most of their products and services. Our goals are to: • Negotiate discounts on behalf of NIH • Assist the buyers in their market research • To provide quality customer service • The NIH BPA Program provides a preferred list of vendors that are frequently used by the Delegated and Simplified Acquisition Community within the NIH.

3. What is a BPA? A Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) is a simplified method of filling anticipated repetitive needs for supplies or services by establishing “charge accounts” with qualified sources of supply (FAR 13.303-1). A BPA is an agreement (not a contract) between the NIH and the vendor to furnish supplies and/or services to the NIH. Currently, NIH maintains approximately650 Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) and Open Market (O/M) BPAs covering a wide range of supplies and services

4. What is a BPA? (cont’d) BPAs are established or renewed for a period of one year. There are over 60 commodities that are covered under these BPAs including biological materials, chemicals, lab supplies, IT hardware/software, temporary help, lab testing services, office supplies, etc.

5. Competition All BPA Calls that are expected to exceed $3,500 require competition. Reasonable competition requires soliciting price quotations either orally or in writing from at least three vendors offering similar products/services. Note: Acquisitions of supplies or services that have an anticipated dollar value exceeding $3,500 but not exceeding $150,000 of the simplified acquisition threshold are reserved exclusively for small business concerns and shall be set aside

6. Applying for OM BPA Open Market (O/M) Maximum Order Limit (MOL) on O/M BPA’s may be as high as $25,000 per order - Vendor can have BPA for a variety of services/items • Vendor has products/services that will benefit the NIH • Has past performance (within the last two years) of doing simplified orders (including purchase card) with the NIH and • The vendor will offer discounts against its commercial catalog. BPAs are not established for commodities if they are available from a Strategic Source Examples-IT, Conference Support, Communications

7. Applying for OM BPA-Cont’d Must be active in SAM and not on the Excluded Parties List Schedule a meeting with BPA Administrators through BPA Helpline Completing the Application and submitting necessary documentation

8. Marketing Tips • Do your homework - Visit www.nih.gov website to learn about the 27 Institutes and Centers • Think of how NIH can benefit from your product or service • Who is your target audience? • NIH Buyer’s Listing https://oamp.od.nih.gov/dsaps/bpa-program • FedBizOpps: https://www.fbo.gov/ • HHS Forecast: https://procurementforecast.hhs.gov/

9. Helpful Links NIH BPA Program Website: https://oamp.od.nih.gov/dsaps/bpa-program System for Award Management www.sam.gov/ HHS OSDBU Website http://www.hhs.gov/about/smallbusiness/ and http://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asfr/ogapa/osbdu/index.html GSA Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative https://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/105156 The electronic version of the NIH telephone directory Contains information such as: program contact information within each institute or Center (IC); services listings, organizational charts and meetings for NIH staff and Committee meetings. http://teledirectory.nih.gov

10. Contact Information THE NIH BPA PROGRAM (OALM, OAMP, DSAPS) 6100 EXECUTIVE BOULEVARD, ROOM 6B05 ROCKVILLE, MD 20892 BPA Helpline: 301-496-5212 Email: BPAProgrambranch@mail.nih.gov

11. Questions?