The General Services Administration is seeking input from the technology reseller community on how the agency can improve the federal procurement process, particularly regarding value-added resellers (VARs). The GSA issued a request for information Thursday, stating that it hopes to receive cost-reduction strategies for products resold to the government rather than those purchased directly from vendors. VARs, a type of government reseller, purchase infrastructure or software from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and enhance them with certain features or services before reselling to the government. An analysis of major VARs found significant differences in the services offered and markup percentages applied to the vendor pricing, according to the RFI. The market research will help determine whether the agency needs additional controls to ensure the government receives fair and reasonable pricing when markups exceed a specified percentage threshold, per the document. “The RFI seeks to gain a clearer understanding of the value added by resellers, and the resulting impact of these services on pricing and the ability to meet the government’s requirements,” GSA wrote in a press release Thursday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “trying to automate as many of our business functions as possible,” the Department of Homeland Security component’s top IT official said at an event Thursday in Washington, D.C. Dustin Goetz, ICE’s chief information officer, said onstage during a Homeland Security and Defense Forum event that the agency is already tapping its automation toolset for compliance checks on applications, code review and identification of issues in infrastructure — but it’s now looking to beef up capabilities. Goetz pointed to lower-level roles in cybersecurity, the service desk and administrative functions as prime areas for automation, saying those things can be automated with the data the agency currently has, it just needs to train models. Additionally, ICE has started using an internal AI chatbot called Stella, a project led by the DHS division’s chief innovation and AI officer. The agency is open to bringing on industry partners to sharpen the tool and help ICE reach its automation goals.

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