GSA "Invites" Schedule Contractors To Examine Origin Of Offered Products

On February 10, 2006, DOJ announced a $5.02 million settlement with Corporate Express, bringing to $28+ million the total obtained from defendants in U.S. ex rel Safini Office Products v. Office Depot et al . (D.D.C. No. 03-CV-003), a qui tam case involving allegations that the defendants had sold office products from non-designated countries on the GSA Schedule in violation of the Trade Agreements Act certification in the contracts. Also within the past week, in a development showing that all schedule contractors should be aware that TAA compliance has a become a major issue in GSA audits, GSA schedule contractors for office products began receiving a letter from GSA asking them to perform a self-assessment of the products they offered and to remove those items from countries that are not "designated countries" under the Trade Agreements Act, countries that would include such major sources of office and Information Technology products as China, India, Taiwan and Malaysia.