Attend the “Welcome to the Jungle” NOPA webinar to learn about toner cartridges

Lawsuits regarding patent infringements, dongle gears, intellectual property, etc. have been introduced by industry giants like Canon and Lexmark. Safety and health issues are a concern regarding certain new build compatibles from Asia. Some can contain volatile organic compounds and toxins in the toner formula and the plastic cores.

Please join NOPA and their special guest, Tricia Judge, Executive Director of the International Imaging Technology Council on Tuesday, June 25th at 1:00 pm EST for a webinar to learn more about these issues, and how to better protect your business.

Visit www.NOPAnet.org to register, email Mike@iopfda.com, or call Mike Tucker, President of the Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealers Association at 410-931-8100. If you miss this session, NOPA will post the presentation on their web site, and they will host a second session later this summer - Date TBA. This topic is a segment in a continuing education series hosted by the IOPFDA.

GSA Introduces the High Risk Transactional Inquiry Tool

The GSA has developed and deployed another sophisticated resource to ensure that the Multiple Awards Schedules (MAS) program is a trusted marketplace. The HRTI resource will monitor all transactions on the MAS. Based on the established average price range, it will automatically report suspicious transactions to the buyer and to GSA. If a dealer exhibits a routine pattern of suspicious transactions, which could be significantly above or below the Horizontal Pricing Model, then that pattern can result in scrutiny.

Recent consequences validate this amplified Federal oversight. For example, these two links explain that Jim Meron, previously of WOW Imaging and Time Enterprises, was sentenced to 33 months in prison, and fined over $1.6M. He managed a “bait and switch” scheme that included substituting lower priced clones for higher priced premium products that were ordered by the Federal Government, and he retained the difference.

Update on MAS Modification Instructions, Products & Services

GSA has developed a detailed, interactive set of modification instructions for utilizing GSA eMOD modification submission templates. This is required when making a modification to your Schedule.

Readers can visit the Table of Contents, and click the desired topic. Each section of the table will bring the reader to either: the GSA eMod website, or the proper part of the document that explains the modification requirements.

All the attachments embedded in this document are available on the left side of your screen. Click on the report, and the template will open. All templates, except the pricing templates, are also available in text from within the document.

To ensure that your GSA web site is fresh and dynamic, Clover Authorized Federal Dealers can access a complete library of product descriptions with robust content, accurate cross references, and images.

Please feel welcome to forward this blog, and invite others in your organization (on the sales team, and in the bid department) to register to receive our monthly updates.