This week on Off the Shelf, Alan Thomas, founder and chief strategist at Alpha Tango Strategies, examines the history of the eCommerce platform and shares his thoughts on the acquisition and policy history of the CPI as well as prospects for growth now that the eight follow on contracts have been awarded.  Thomas highlights the outreach role GSA has played and must continue to play to enhance opportunities for growth in customer agency usage., and he discusses the impact of GSA's new SaaS advance payment policy and what it means for customer agencies and industry. Thomas contrasts this new commercial-like payment policy with the current state of the federal acquisition regulation and the re-regulation of commercial item contracting.  Finally Thomas talks about the impact of regulatory burdens on competition and access to the commercial market.