The U.S. government has approved UUV Aquabotix’s Endura unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) for placement on the GSA schedule, the company announced on June 5.
The GSA (General Services Administration) is an agency of the United States government that supplies products for U.S. government offices and operates the Federal Acquisition Service (the FAS). As part of this effort, it maintains the GSA Schedule, which other U.S. government agencies can use to buy goods and services.
Procurement managers from various U.S. government agencies can make purchases of the products that are on the GSA Schedule, knowing that the terms of such purchases have been preset between the vendor and the GSA.
As part of the placement on the GSA Schedule and GSA Advantage for federal procurement, Aquabotix’s Endura has also been approved as qualifying for purchase through GSA Advantage by state and local governments.
This is an important step for the company as it allows any U.S. federal agency and U.S. state and local government agencies, to buy Aquabotix’s product, from a pre-qualified catalog of products.
Higher end, customized vehicles, such as the company’s recent U.S. Navy order announced on 2 May 2017, are not placed through the GSA Schedule, however, and require a competitive process.
Aquabotix’s CEO Durval Tavares commented “The company participates in governmental procurement processes, and has had success in this procurement channel. Inclusion on the GSA Schedule and in the GSA Advantage catalog now allows for shorter-cycle, pre-approved procurement of the company’s uncustomized Endura product by the U.S. federal government, state and local agencies. Essentially, government employees with appropriate authority can now purchase an unmanned underwater vehicle from Aquabotix with a click of a button.”