All About the Verified Products Portal (VPP)

All About the Verified Products Portal (VPP)

What the VPP Means for GSA Manufacturers and Resellers:In recent months most GSA contractors received a notice or a mention of the lunch of the new Verified Products Portal (VPP), (GSA verified list) and it is not yet clear how exactly GSA contractors are going to be affected by the new system, so let’s talk about the VPP…

Check if you Qualify to be a GSA Contractor

On May 12, 2021 GSA announced their intent to implement the “Verified Products Portal” and its’ impacts to Letter of Supply (LOS) on the “Interact” page, and if your contract has been active between 2021 and 2022, you might have received the following email:

You received a message from GSA that you may not be authorized by the manufacturer to sell certain products awarded on your GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract, Contract Number: XYZ123 . This is based on data from the Verified Products Portal (VPP), which allows GSA to obtain supplier authorization data directly from participating manufacturers and their authorized partners.

Another way a contactor may interact with the VPP is when submitting a modification or an offer, and in return receiving the “4P Market analysis report”, which now include the VPP information column and state weather the specific contractor has the required authority to sell these specific products, and we already know how to best utilize it for our clients whit GSA Catalog Management services.

How will the VPP impact GSA Advantage? In simple words, if contractor wants to sell products made by a manufacturer who doesn’t want their items to be sold by that contractor, the manufacturer will be able to assign those who are authorized to sell products they manufacture on GSA Advantage. 

Each manufacturer is responsible for joining the VPP and to Access VPP click here: https://vpp.xsb.com/signup and according to the official VPP page on GSA states “The VPP is completely voluntary and free to use” and it is “designed to improve the representation of your commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products.” 

Its product and supplier data will: 

  • Identify prohibited products 
  • Standardize contractor catalogs
  • Ensuring products are accurately represented 

How Can GSA Contractors Benefit from the Verified Products Portal? some benefits of the VPP portal include:

  • VPP allows for the creation of product prohibition rules to ensure regulatory compliance and identify national security concerns. 
  • New rules can be implemented within 24 hours to allow us to proactively address emerging threats.
  • Prohibited Product rules are integrated into our bi-monthly catalog analysis (will become nightly via ACR) for post-award remediation.

Information about the OEM participants of the VPP program is available at “The Verified Products Portal Participation Dashboard”, where is also mentioned that “In support of the May 2021 MAS solicitation update which authorizes the use of Verified Products Portal data in lieu of a letter of supply, the FAS Catalog Management Office is launching the Verified Products Portal Participation Dashboard”. 

How does VPP implementation impact Letter of Supply (LoS) requirements? According to the following quote on the “Interact” page, one of the main benefits of this new VPP Program is the “decrease the burden on industry associated with managing Letters of Supply (LOS).” and if “GSA Schedule Contractors offer COTS products which come from a manufacturer who provides supplier authorization data in the VPP, then these Contractors no longer need to submit a LOS for those products.

How Will VPP Impact GSA Vendors? This simple dashboard will publicly display the names of the manufacturers and wholesalers who are actively providing VPP GSA suppliers authorization and product content data.  As a result of this dashboards publication, offerors and current contractors will be able to quickly identify which manufacturers provide data directly to GSA (VPP), thereby eliminating the requirement for the contractor to submit a letter of supply when offering covered products to the Government under the Multiple Award Schedule program.”

What data elements does the VPP collect? At this time the VPP will collect the basic product and contractor detail listing information to enable compliance monitoring functions designed to improve GSA online procurement process.

For now, the system is in its’ initial stages of deployment and establishment, and with more market adoption the hopes are high for the VPP system to help all parties involved, Federal Buyers, the GSA, the Contract Holders and OEM Manufacturers to have more control over listings on the GSA Portal marketplaces. 

Follow our blogs for more up to date information about the latest on Federal Business.

Click to rate
[Total: 2 Average: 5]
Comments

Average rating: 2 reviews.

Leave feedback

  • The answer is no; the VPP is a product information and supplier authorization gateway for manufacturers. Contractors on the Multiple Awards Schedule (MAS) should not use the VPP to manage their catalog data. The Common Catalog Platform is being developed by the GSA to provide a modern alternative for SIP that interfaces with contractual processes.

  • Will the VPP replace the Schedule Input Program (SIP)?

  • VPP will collect the following types of information:

    Details about approved resellers, product lines, and Doing Business As (DBA) (DBA)
    Details about the product category—brand name and manufacturer part number (MPN)
    Product Descriptions/Photos—status of remanufacture, product images, and features
    Country of Origin (COO) and EnergyStar Labels are two supply chain attributes.
    Information on Costs (optional)
    —the price rise level at which the item’s legitimacy is questioned, as well as the date of the price increase

  • What data elements does the VPP collect?

Leave feedback

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *