WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs David W. Anderson today announced a cooperative initiative with the General Services Administration (GSA) to provide Federally recognized tribes participating in the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) Native Sovereign Nation (NSN) Domain Name Program with the opportunity to use E-Buy, GSA’s online procurement system for products and services.
“E-Buy is an important e-commerce tool for the Federal government to buy products and services efficiently and cost effectively,” Anderson said. “This initiative will help improve ecommerce in Indian country by providing tribal governments the same opportunity to meet their service and supply needs online while making the most of their procurement dollars.”
OIA and GSA will introduce the NSN Domain Name/E-Buy Program at the 19th Annual National Reservation Economic Summit & American Indian Business Trade Fair, known as RES 2005, being held Feb. 7-10 at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nev. They also will conduct a panel discussion on Feb. 8 about the initiative as part of GSA’s Native American Business Center special session “GSA Presents the Native American Business Center and Other Programs.” The discussion is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. local time.
The E-Buy program is designed to bring ease and versatility to online procurement. NSN Domain Name Program participating tribes, identified by the –nsn.gov suffix in their web addresses, will be able to use E-Buy to send Requests for Quotes and receive quotes for products and services under GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules program. They also will be able to access E-Buy’s services such as quotes on millions of products and services, locating suppliers and making large purchases, searching for information, and establishing blanket purchase agreement pricing.
E-Buy benefits also include saving time and resources by competing procurements online, ensuring compliance with Department of Defense Section 803 requirements, increased competition from suppliers, and allowing submission of modifications online.
The Indian Affairs NSN Domain Name Program, which began in 2002, currently has 67 active tribal domains with another 96 domains registered with GSA’s Federal Technology Service.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Native American Programs (ONAP) also has endorsed the value of online procurement by encouraging tribal housing coordinators to utilize the NSN Domain Name Program and E-Buy for tribal housing programs.
To learn more about the Indian Affairs NSN Domain Name Program, contact Paul Marsden, EGovernment Officer, Office of Information Policy, Office of the Chief Information Officer, OIA, at 703-735-4112 or visit the GSA/FTS dotgov registration web site at www.dotgov.gov.
For more information about the GSA E-Buy program visit www.ebuy.gsa.gov or call GSA Advantage/E-Buy Customer Service at 877-472-3777. For more information about HUD/ONAP contact C. Raphael Mecham, Administrator, Southwest Office of Native American Programs, at 602-379-7200.
Registration and other information about RES 2005 can be found at www.ncaied.org.
