The Federal Trade Commission's Acquisition Division acquires goods and services requested by the FTC’s organizational components nationwide. Major customers of the division include the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and Office of the Chief Administrative Services Officer (OCASO).
These two components, under the Office of the Executive Director (OED), support the entire organization. They rely on the division for the purchase of IT related goods and services (hardware, software, licensing and equipment) and goods and services needed to support its infrastructure (i.e., commodities relating to security, transportation, program support, office supplies, office equipment, and maintenance).
About a third of the division’s contract actions directly support other components, predominantly to award contracts for litigation support (expert witnesses and temporary offices at court venues), publicity and public affairs/public outreach operations (digital, print, audio, and video message production), and support for offsite conferences, meetings, and training (rental of facilities, A/V services, design, décor and registration services, group lodging, etc.).
How To Do Business With the FTC
The Acquisitions Division reacts to its internal FTC customers upon receipt of funded purchase requisitions that contain a description of the FTC’s minimum needs (either a “bill of materials” for goods or a statement of work or statement of objectives) when services are needed.
It reacts to requisitions (PRs) by first approaching government sources of supply and secondarily by publishing its requirements to the public at large. The Acquisitions Branch does not maintain a source library that contains marketing or sales materials, capability statements, or the like. To most promptly fulfill FTC’s needs, the Acquisition Division turns first and foremost to existing contracts of other federal agencies under which orders can be placed by the FTC. This means the FTC preferentially uses GSA Schedule contracts and NASA SEWP contracts to fulfill agency needs. The Acquisition Division actively sets aside requirements for small businesses and uses the SBA’s “8(a)” Small Business Development Program whenever possible. Equal standing is given to the priority use of orders directly or through NIH’s NITAAC to reach other small and socially disadvantaged businesses (e.g., women and veteran owned companies, native American tribally owned small business, businesses owned by the disabled and companies in HUBZones).
In the above environment, doing business with the Acquisitions Division is easiest if your firm is either a small business of any type found mentioned in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in Part 19 or a has a GSA Schedule or NASA SEWP contract or any other governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC) that the FTC can use to order.
When a requirement cannot be filled through ordering or awards cannot be small businesses, the FTC turns to the open market. It does that solely through publishing notices on the System for Award Management (SAM) Contract Opportunities page.
Notices will be either a Request for Information (RFI), a Notice of Sources Sought, or a posted solicitation (Request for Quotations (RFQ), Request for Proposal (RFP), and Invitation for Bids (IFB), or a Combined Synopsis/Solicitation).
All your firm needs to do to be considered for a contract award is i) be registered as a supplier to the government and, ii) for the FTC in particular, be willing to invoice electronically for delivered goods and services with the Department of Treasury IPP electronic invoicing platform. Details about IPP will be in the awarded contract and order you receive.
- To register as an open market supplier to the government, visit the System for Award Management (SAM).
- To explore small business opportunities offered by the Small Business Administration, visit the SBA Federal Contracting page.
- If you want to explore obtaining a GSA Schedule Contract, visit the GSA Schedules page. This site covers schedules for both large and small business, and provides information on obtaining other types of indefinite delivery contracts outside of the Schedules program.
- If you want to look up what the FTC has purchased in the past, visit USASpending.gov or search through the historical postings of notices in the System for Award Management or the Federal Procurement Data System.