Did you know, effective October 1, 2015, the new micro-purchase threshold was raised from $3,000 to $3,500. This is great news for both credit cardholders and especially for small businesses.
Below are the new guidelines:
As set forth in Federal Register – Vol. 80 No. 127 – July 2, 2015 (pages 38293 through 38296), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was amended to the following:
The micro-purchase base threshold from $3,000 (FAR 2.101) to $3,500.
The threshold for use of simplified acquisition procedures for acquisition of commercial items (FAR 13.500) from $6.5 million to $7 million.
The cost or pricing data threshold (FAR 15.403-4) and the statutorily equivalent Cost Accounting Standard threshold from $700,000 to $750,000.
The prime contractor subcontracting plan (FAR 19.702) floor from $650,000 to $700,000 (The construction threshold of $1,500,000 will remain unchanged.)
The threshold for reporting first-tier subcontract information including executive compensation from $25,000 to $30,000 (FAR subpart 4.14 and section 52.204-10).
Below is the important part of the message:
To the extent practicable, micro-purchases shall be distributed equitably among qualified suppliers. With Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI), the agencies simply must select a FSSI Contract Holder to make these purchases. FAR 16.505
Micro-purchases may be awarded without soliciting competitive quotations if the contracting officer or individual appointed in accordance with 1.603-3(b) considers the price to be reasonable.
While EZ Print Supplies offers thousands of office supply products on our GSA Contact and FSSI IDIQ Contract, the Federal Government still uses products that are not easy to find. We pride ourselves in finding those hard to locate items, making the sourcing of these items just as easy as all the other items you buy much more frequently. While unearthing these (treasures) items can be both frustrating and difficult, our Sales Team – with an average of more than ten years of office products experience, can find these items without the hassle of trying to find them without this resource. If you can describe the item that you are looking for, we will find a source, quote price and delivery, and create an item number for future orders so that once the item has been identified, it will be on our web site the next time to streamline the process for you.
Besides filling out the special form on the web site, you can also contact your dedicated Federal Account Manager and they will start begin the search for these hard to find products.
The My Quick Links navigation is on the right side of the screen.
Simply select “Request an Item Quote”
Fill out the Special Item Quote Request
Click on the Submit Button and your Federal Account Manager will respond with either information about the needed item, or additional questions that require answers so that we get you exactly what you need, when you need it.
While some other companies may simply tell you that they cannot get something (because it is special and not quickly available through wholesalers), our tradition of service and our connection to industry partners will help us quickly find these unique items.
Just another way we make things simple, the E Z Way. And, now you know…
Special orders are our specialty. Visit us at http://www.ezprintsupplies.com or call us today and get started with your specialty orders.
For the past four years, EZ Print Supplies has been working with ABVI Goodwill Industries to manage our national call center. As a small business, it was challenging and costly to manage a national call center.
It was impossible to determine when call volume would increase or decrease, so we knew that we would have to be creative to come up with a workable solution that would be both cost effective as well as something we could be proud of.
EZ Print Supplies was already a leading supplier of AbilityOne Products. The SKILCRAFT name is associated with quality products delivered on time, in good condition, and with pride in workmanship and quality. We were not shocked to see that this same dedication to quality and pride would translate into a world class call center. What makes our call center special and why does it work so well for us?
We realized that we needed to outsource this vital link to customers. We met Gidget Hopf from the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Greater Rochester knowing that they were already operating a Call Center. We had already done a significant amount of business with the Association as they are the primary supplier of Self-Stick Note Pads (we call them sticky notes) to the Federal Government.
The call center is staffed to perform other tasks throughout the day, alternating between taking calls from the region’s 2-1-1/Life Line Contact Center – which includes calls coming in from 120,000 people providing information, referral and crisis/suicide counseling, to managing the national accounts programs for Point Nationwide, Independent Stationers, and EZ Print Supplies.
Seamlessly, based on the toll-free number that is being dialed, the call center directs the call to the appropriate team member that is trained to handle the call professionally, timely, and with the sole purpose of handling the customer issue with just a single phone call.
When the EZ Print Supplies phone lines light up, additional staffing is assigned to handle the calls.
The part that makes this whole process special for us is that our team of dedicated call center employees are either legally blind or completely blind.
When you click on our click to chat feature on our web site EZPrintSupplies.com – your chat request is being handled by someone that is either legally blind or completely blind. Using adaptive technology, they can handle your call as well or better than a sighted individual.
We knew that this solution would solve a critical function that would allow us to handle your calls, customer set ups, pick up of unwanted or miss-ordered products, damaged goods, etc. All customer inquiries are handled efficiently, professionally, and without hassle. But the best part is we are providing jobs, opportunities, and choices for American’s with Disabilities.
Check us out at www.ezprintsupplies.com. We are thrilled with our relationship to the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ABVI) of Greater Rochester.
Managing multiple orders from multiple departments in different locations can be demanding and time-consuming at best. Orders trickling in via email, fax, small bits of sticky paper, etc. Sometimes the information is inaccurate which causes multiple calls to multiple suppliers just to correct an item number that was scribbled down and the numbers or letters were mixed up.
What do you think about a web solution that was so powerful that you would never need to correct an item number again – or key the order for your shopper – or try to read someone’s scribble, or worse yet, lose their order in transit? Even better, the “shopper” creates the order so you don’t have to.
Introducing Approval Routing by EZ Print Supplies. Ordering office supplies for multiple locations, for unique sets of employees, for office consumers both near and far has just become easier – or should I say EZ-er. We’ve actually been working with several agencies that were looking for a more manageable way to control their office products purchasing. By creating roles for different types of buyers, plus our leading edge technology and innovation, we have mastered the art of managing day-to-day orders while reducing the hassles and headaches associate with ordering office supplies.
Below are the typical roles that can be assigned:
The Shopper’s role
The shopper has an account
The shopper can create an order
The shopper can release their order (to the approving official)
The shopper cannot place (pay) for their order
The Order “Approver”
Once the shopper has released an order, the approving manager(s) will get an email advising them they have an order to approve. The approving manager can:
Approve the order as is
Modify the order
Disapprove the order
When the order is approved, another email is sent to the credit card holder for payment
The Credit Cardholder
The credit cardholder can also be the approving official as well as the paying agent
Assuming that the order must first be approved by an approving official, the credit cardholder will not get an email advising them that they have an order to place until the final ordering official has approved the order. There can be up to three levels of approvals.
The cardholder simply clicks on the hot link in the email, which will direct them directly to the ezprintsupplies.com web site.
The final step is to fill out your credit card information, hit submit and your order is transmitted to EZ Print Supplies for processing and fast delivery. Standard delivery time is three to four business days but faster delivery is available. Just let your sales person know.
We welcome feedback and questions and hope to serve you soon with all your Federal Government purchasing needs. Give us a call or visit our website.
The average cardholder can take up to three hours to place an order on DoD eMall or GSA Advantage. When you consider that when shopping for “copy paper” – on just the first page of GSA Advantage, the first screen shows nearly 2,500 sources for copy paper. This can be a nightmare, especially when you don’t know what to buy, how much it should cost, the unit of measure, and minimum orders. Read my blog, and I will explain a much better method to purchase your office supplies the EZ way…
Below are some of the reasons why people are looking for a better way to source office supplies
The average cardholder can take up to three hours to place an order on DoD eMall or GSA Advantage. Navigating the maze to find items can be a difficult task, especially when you consider that when using strategic sourcing, cardholders are advised that they do not have to shop for the lowest price (as long as they are using OS3 FSSI IDIQ Contract) FAR 16.505
When you deliberate where is the best source for “copy paper” on the public sector websites, you quickly realize that this is a lot more difficult than it should be. The first screen shows nearly 2,500 sources for copy paper? How can this be possible? This can be a nightmare, especially when you don’t know what to buy, how much it should cost, what is a unit of measure, and minimum orders, what? Read my blog, and I will explain a much better method to purchase your office supplies the EZ way…
Our customers tell us that ordering on EZ Print Supplies is the simplest, most efficient way to order their general office supplies, toner and ink, and paper products.
Below are some of the reasons why people choose to order from the Vendor Portals instead of eMall or GSA Advantage:
It takes the average person more than three hours to place a fifty line order on either of the Federal Government sponsored web sites
We can show you how it is possible to place that same fifty line order in less than 10 minutes
The public sector web sites have not kept up with innovations in electronic ordering. Their search engine is very basic and does not utilize the very advanced tools that were developed specifically for the office products industry. Searching (on our web site) for items typically takes fewer than two clicks to find the needed product. I don’t need to tell you how long it takes to find an item on the government sponsored web sites.
Finding every item that you use in your office on the public sector web sites can really test your resolve. Many of the items that you use every day cannot be sourced through the public sector web sites.
Products that are manufactured in non-Trade Agreement Compliant Countries (technology items, things made of plastic, calculators, toner) cannot be listed on the public sector web site because they cannot be contract items
Virgin Paper – some of your sensitive printers having jamming issues with recycled paper. Virgin Paper products should not be listed on the public sector sites
Items that have been determined to be “Essentially the Same as AbilityOne” will not be recognized on the public sector web sites – and they should not be.
Even when you find the correct product at the right price, when you drop the item into your shopping cart, it may not meet the minimum order for that supplier
If you order the best priced item for 10 products and submit the order, do you really want to manage ten separate orders from ten different suppliers. How easy will it be to reconcile your credit card statement?
Let EZ Print Supplies show you a better way to manage your office supplies purchasing with:
An EZ to use ordering platform that is based on Microsoft Dynamics – a leading edge supplier of e-commerce ordering platforms
EZ Search – find the items that you want to buy in less than two clicks
EZ Search allows to find items using your basic vocabulary. If you enter “headache”, the response coming back will be remedies for your headache. Ordering office supplies should not give you a headache, but it can…
As a full-catalog FSSI OS3 award winner, you will have access to thousands of products that you need to keep your office running smoothly.
We manage the compliance for products like AbilityOne, TAA, and Green products so that you won’t need to.
Create your own favorites list – and those recurrently ordered items can be ordered and off your desk in minutes instead of hours.
We’re local. As a Washington DC based company, we deliver to your office the very next business day.
If you are not located in the Washington DC marketplace, you will have a choice or more than 75 Authorized Participating Dealers in 50 major markets to assist you in product selection, bring you our latest catalog, or offer professional sales assistance for everything office.
Please like us and follow us for the latest updates to help your government agency get the most out of your budgets while providing you the tools and services you need to get your job done.
Did you know, effective October 1, 2015, the new micro-purchase threshold was raised from $3,000 to $3,500. This is great news for both credit cardholders and especially for small businesses.
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