Frequently Asked Questions

The Acquisition Gateway is managed by GSA’s Gateway Team. While GSA (General Services Administration) is building this suite of tools, we are approaching it from an unbiased perspective as a resource for all of government. We want to present advice and knowledge from across the government, within a given market to allow acquisition professionals across agencies to make informed decisions and act with confidence.

We are looking for your input to grow the resources that agencies are sharing with each other on the Gateway! Join the Community by sharing document templates and examples in the Document Library, or best practices, lessons learned, or articles to Category Hallways. To contribute to and to share your suggestions, email us at hallways_contribute@gsa.gov.

You can also participate in usability testing, a 30 - 60 minute session that gives us feedback about the Gateway. To do this, email hallways_contribute@gsa.gov with your availability.

Category Management is a governmentwide approach to purchasing with the following goals:

1. Identify, aggregate, and analyze spending by each category
2. Understand customers’ needs and priorities in each category and use this understanding to create more effective market research and analysis to shape the acquisition strategy
3. Share information and best practices to the acquisition community, federal agencies, and industry partners
4. Improve acquisition solutions through data and contract intelligence-based procurements; utilize stronger customer relationships and an improved supply base to improve these solutions
5. Minimize acquisition redundancy and align the federal government’s demand for products and services with the market’s supply capabilities

These sources provide information on why Government has chosen to adopt category management, the governance, and how we will measure success:

• Government-wide Category Management Guidance,Version 1.0, approved by the Category Management Leadership Council, is the guidance for the governance, management and standard operating procedures by which all government-wide category teams will operate.

• The Category Management Leadership Council (CMLC) Charter establishes the governing body for Category Management. Government-wide Category Management Guidance Version 1.0, approved by the Category Management Leadership Council, is the guidance for the governance, management and standard operating procedures by which all government-wide category teams will operate. The Category Management Leadership Council (CMLC) Charter establishes the governing body for Category Management. 

• The OMB Office of Federal Procurement Policy announced the names of the 10 government­-wide category managers on February 10, 2016.

• The Spend Under Management Maturity Model is an overall measure of Federal Government progress towards achieving category management objectives. The first data call and analysis were conducted in May 2015.

• The Government-wide Category Structure divides up the $450 billion in government spend into 10 common categories ($272 billion) and 9 defense-centric categories ($178 billion). The ten super categories of commonly purchased items to provide a clear framework as to how federal spending will be analyzed and managed.

• The new category management Cross Agency Priority Goals are focused on increasing information technology savings, reducing the number of new contracts, and increasing spend that is under governmentwide management.

• The standard configurations for laptops and desktops, as required by OMB Memorandum M-16-02: "Category Management Policy 15-1: Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Laptops and Desktops" (October 16, 2015).

• The software memo  defines software management standards and strategies as required by OMB memorandum 16-1: "Category Management Policy 16-1: Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Software Licensing" (June 2, 2016)

• The Category Management Policy for Mobile Devices and Services, as required by OMB 16-3: Improving the Acquisition and Management of Common Information Technology: Mobile Devices and Services” (August 4, 2016)

• A Best in Class (BIC) Designation is a tool to indicate that content exemplifies the government\'s category management efforts. The BIC designation is conferred by the Category Manager after review against 5 key criteria. You can read more about the criteria and how these decisions are made here.