This evening I received a call from a long time friend whom I was in the Military with and who now or used to be a POC Purchasing Agent for one of our many branches of the Federal Government.

I was sitting here about 10 and winding down from a very busy day when he called and told me that he is currently suspended and on leave because of a purchase he made via one of the Bidding Sites that most agencies use.

He purchased some goods for his agency about 4 months back, He purchased from a vendor he did not personally know and he done exactly what he was supposed to by checking to make sure they was registered with the Government, all set asides requirements was met by the seller and that it was the lowest bid.

Well today his Supervisor pulled him into the office asking about this particular purchase, he told me that he explained everything in great detail of what he knew and the company he purchased from.

He was told the goods once dispurced was found to be counterfeit this week by the Agency.

NO BIG SURPRISE to me and I have had to call POCs before explaining this and that the company they was buying from was a broker and not a direct seller and was not authorized to sell the goods by the manufacture because they was not a authorized seller.

So he went on telling me that his supervisor told him to go back to work and he would work with their legal to get the mess sorted out.

He said about 3pm he was informed he was suspended.

What he later found out was the business was a shell company that was owned by another company which had been in trouble before with the government over selling fraudulent goods. Then he found out that he unknowingly purchased other goods from other shell companies owned by this company so he does not know what is in store for his future until he meets with his rep.

I normally do not talk a lot on the purchasing and sales side of the company because it is very murky water and a lot of people judge you for what you say in this arena BUT this is a friend and right now I think he is being treated unfair for what happened.

It is very easy to open a company, register with sam and sell goods and very much lucrative if you are the lowest bidder. It is even harder to know who your buying from sitting behind a computer screen and making phone calls and much more harder if you are buying goods you yourself knows very little about.

I wrote a article a while back and not only did I get back lash from other sellers but from some of the POCs I know but nothing I said then or will say now is a lie.

I know several companies who are not direct sellers of goods, they are known as brokers who broker between a company having said goods and the government. Some of the companies know that what they are buying is either remanufactured or are knock off’s. When you buy something from a company you know is selling for way below of what a authorized dealer can buy for that something isn’t right and these companies do not care.

I have a company now I battle against from time to time who gets gear from Asia and sells it too the government as a american made brand name knowing it isn’t. I call companies I deal with weekly informing them that goods are being sold even below what they can manufacture them for and nothing is ever done by GSA.

POCs think just because they are getting the cheapest prices they are good to go and really what they are doing is taking money from American Manufactures, lining the pockets of overseas corporations who use slave labor to make these knock off’s and the whole time the sellers and counterfeiters are laughing about how stupid our government is.

So the next time you see someone selling a American Made brand name item at 1/4 of what is on the retail market, you better believe your getting a counterfeit because even Authorized Dealers can buy for even half the retail value.