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Monopoly Critics Decry 'Amazon Amendment' (thehill.com)
schwit1 shares a report from The Hill: The amendment, Section 801 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would help Amazon establish a tight grip on the lucrative, $53 billion government acquisitions market, experts say. The provision, dubbed the "Amazon amendment" by experts, according to an article in The Intercept, would allow for the creation of an online portal that government employees could use to purchase everyday items such as office supplies or furniture. This government-only version of Amazon, which could potentially include a few other websites, would give participating companies direct access to the $53 billion market for government acquisitions of commercial products. "It hands an enormous amount of power over to Amazon," said Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a research group that advocates for local businesses. Mitchell said that the provision could allow Amazon to gain a monopoly or duopoly on the profitable world of commercial government purchases, leaving smaller businesses behind and further consolidating the behemoth tech firm's power.
schwit1 adds: "Well, this is a two-edged sword, isn't it? Government spends too much and takes too long to buy its simple office needs, but streamlining that process and cutting costs puts more money in the pocket of Jeff Bezos."
schwit1 adds: "Well, this is a two-edged sword, isn't it? Government spends too much and takes too long to buy its simple office needs, but streamlining that process and cutting costs puts more money in the pocket of Jeff Bezos."
Doesn't everything already go through GSA?
This government-only version of Amazon, which could potentially include a few other websites, would give participating companies direct access to the $53 billion market for government acquisitions of commercial products.
So this isn't about Amazon, it's about approved vendors having an easy-to-use site/portal for government purchasing.
That's a good thing. We have this where I work. We get decent discounts because of it, and no one vendor is dominating.
Yes, Amazon would have an advantage here because they'll be able to devote resources to setting up shop quickly and making everything work well.
But so what? That's no different than the rest of online shopping. Further, Amazon is often not the cheapest, and with an easy-to-use portal/site, it'll be easy for government purchasers to find the cheapest price on shit (if they even care).
Compare this with military base exchanges (PX/BX). There is a bidding and qualification process for these, and then a vendor gets to be present in the captive markets of US military personnel who mostly shop on their base. So, it's a closed market operated by the US government that benefits the relatively few larger corporations who enter it. No-one is upset about that.
I'm not a big fan of Amazon's market power, but the reality is that they have changed retail: you have to be at least as good as Amazon to survive. So you have to be as easy to access, easy to buy from, as cheap, as full of local individual character as Amazon, or some other combination of attributes that makes you at least equal, in the consumer mind, to Amazon.
Now, you also have to be at least as good at selling and delivering to government as Amazon. Get to it.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled"
This is fine. No reason to artificially block efficiency.
Just stop giving Amazon tax breaks then.
I hate it that this version of Speed Die Monopoly is an Amazon exclusive.
Except for being average sized and male, I am otherwise an Amazonian. I have the Prime membership, the Fire TV, and though I never plugged in the Echo, I will often purchase an item under the protection of the Amazon umbrella even if it's available somewhere else a bit cheaper.
Last Christmas though, I made a couple of purchases on other web sites that I could've made on Jeff's.
Why? I just don't think one retail outlet should have an utter stranglehold on the marketplace. Competition is still the best regulatory agent available.
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I'm not sure how I feel about this change. GSA Advantage is an online portal where government employees can already make such purchases, the GSA itself does the buying directly from businesses (it's also publicly accessible). It is definitely an example of government reinventing the wheel where private industry is already there, and probably at a higher cost. Amazon may be at an advantage and has a dominant position, but I'm not sure that it is a reason not to outsource the wholesale purchasing, as long as Amazon is not the only vendor. Government has a long history of purchasing from smaller companies, and preferring Veteran-owned institutions, so that will likely continue. Products sold by such companies will likely continue to be favored as well within the marketplace.
This is a little off-topic, but I have to ask: how did Amazon get to where they are? I can't stand using their site. Their search function is terrible, and their prices are no better than any other online retailers. Every once in a while, I'll find something that only Amazon is selling, but that's really unusual. Anyone else out there feel the same?
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It makes sense to go through a GSA competitive-bidding process when the government is buying 150,000 of something, or when they are buying hundreds of pickup trucks for some fleet.
When an employee's USB hub croaks, it makes a lot more sense, and is a lot cheaper, to order one from Walmart.com or Amazon than to go through any red tape. I used to work for the government and for some purchases the red tape cost a lot more than the item, and made things a lot slower. The delay was costly when an employee, who is being paid, can't work as effectively for several days.
This is an attempt to be more sensible, to have the option to just order a damn HDMI cable from Amazon, Walmart, etc rather than requisition one at a much higher cost. You want to have the right level of oversight for different kinds of purchases.
the Amendment was written specifically for Amazon, probably after some measure of lobbying. Government contracts are, by and large, a means of wealth redistribution in America. It's the closest we get to socialism. So folks get a little uppity when they see the juiciest contracts just immediately handed out to somebody like Amazon. Especially with how poorly Amazon pays it's rank and file.
Now, if you can get real socialism in America (e.g. Medicare for all, college for everyone, $15 minimum wages, infrastructure spending, etc, etc) folks will stop caring so much about this kind of thing.
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Well, this is a two-edged sword, isn't it? Government spends too much and takes too long to buy its simple office needs, but streamlining that process and cutting costs puts more money in the pocket of Jeff Bezos
Government spending may be inefficient, but it creates economical activity. Now if its expenses go directly to a fiscal paradise, that positive outcomes vanishes.
> why aren't they building a portal (created a hosted by a third-party that is not involved as a vendor of any of the products) that Amazon and other vendors can interoperate with?
They are, but click-bait headlines work. Google and Walmart, for example, gave positive input on the proposal. One lawmaker explained Amazon, Walmart, Staples and Grainger are likely to participate.
> without any branding about who the ultimate fulfiller would be. Need a box of pens? Go find the ones you want, pick the best combination of terms and price, and order. If it shows up the next day in an Amazon box, or a Wal-mart box, or a Google box, no one cares.
Normally I wouldn't care who fulfills the order. My experience with Walmart in particular is that they frequently take two weeks to fulfill an order. They don't have counterfeit products as often as Amazon does, though. I could see sometimes one vendor would be preferred over another, depending on the situation and the product. When I absolutely must have it the next day, I wouldn't order from Walmart.
CONSIP in Italy should be the equivalent system for Italiy.
The problem is that is a yummy target for bribing
The government already has this, they call it GSA Advantage! https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/a...
Our company is a vendor on it and it is a PITA. I don't expect anything new to be better. It's going to be the same garbage crap. My favorite part is they demand proof that you are giving the government the lowest price you charge any customer. Then they make you do hours of paperwork for any small order. And finally they audit the living crap out of you. They asked us to provide detailed quotes from every sale we had made to EVERY CUSTOMER (Government and commercial) for the WHOLE YEAR. Hundred of thousands of transactions... I can't wait until this new program comes out :P