The Federal Acquisition Service’s first refresh of its consolidated schedule will include the ban on contracting with vendors tied to Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE.

Some users have taken issue with the two-factor authentication required to access the new federal awards system.

GSA awarded 12 spots on the COMET blanket purchase agreement to eight large and four small businesses, one of the latter being national security contractor Sevatec, according to an agency spokesperson.

The award system is being retired with nine others over time as the General Services Administration streamlines acquisitions through a single beta system.

Alan Thomas' departure comes two days after Multiple Award Schedules Consolidation, but three other pillars of the Federal Marketplace Strategy remain unfinished.

The Multiple Award Schedules Consolidation is intended to modernize acquisition for federal, state and local governments.