Editorial · September 26, 2014
GSA Schedule Contract: How a Small Firm Applies
A GSA schedule contract is a long-term deal between the General Services Administration (GSA) and a business. GSA agrees on prices and terms in advance, and agencies can then place orders with the firm. A small firm applies by choosing the right Schedule, registering, and sending an offer through GSA's eOffer system. GSA says its offer review usually takes 30 to 120 days, but the whole process may take months. It also says a Schedule contract is not a guarantee of sales.
What a Multiple Award Schedule is
The program goes by three names: GSA Schedules, Multiple Award Schedules (MAS), and the Federal Supply Schedule program. GSA signs contracts with more than one supplier of similar products and services, at different prices. Each contract is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract. That means it fixes a time period, but not how much agencies will buy.
Each Schedule is split into Special Item Numbers (SINs), which group similar products and services. Schedule 874 includes consulting, training, and project management services.
GSA had over 19,000 MAS contracts in fiscal year 2012. More than $40 billion a year flows through them. Small businesses make up 80 percent of the contractors and account for 36 percent of sales. About 40 percent of the contracts generate sales.
Who can get a Schedule contract
GSA says the program is open to all responsible offerors that meet its requirements, including pricing. A GSA contracting officer reviews each offer on points that include these five:
- Responsibility: sound finances, an accounting system with controls, and a good record of past performance.
- Responsiveness: you followed the instructions and sent the papers.
- Scope: your products or services match the Schedule and SIN you chose.
- Subcontracting plan: large businesses must have one.
- Pricing and terms: prices should be fair and reasonable, with data to support them.
Your products must also meet the Trade Agreements Act. It allows only U.S.-made or designated-country end products on Schedule contracts. GSA's Vendor Toolbox lists factors that raise a firm's odds of success as a Schedule contractor. One is two years of federal contracting experience, either as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor. GSA training slides cover professional services offers on Schedules such as 874. They say to send your most current two years of financial statements, audited if possible.
How agencies buy from a Schedule
Agencies order straight from the Schedule holder. They can shop online through GSA Advantage! or post a request for quotes (RFQ) on eBuy. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) sets the rules in subpart 8.4. A buyer may place an order up to the micro-purchase threshold with any Schedule holder that meets the need. Above that, up to the simplified acquisition threshold, the buyer has to consider at least three holders. The FAR allows fewer only for a few reasons, which must be recorded. For products and fixed-price services, considering three can mean reviewing catalogs or pricelists, or asking for quotes. For services that need a statement of work, the buyer sends the RFQ to at least three. Past the simplified acquisition threshold, the buyer issues an RFQ, unless an approved justification waives competition. The RFQ goes on eBuy or to enough holders to expect at least three quotes.
GSA has already judged Schedule prices fair and reasonable. Buyers may still ask for a discount, and past the simplified acquisition threshold they must. Buyers do not advertise Schedule requirements on FedBizOpps, with narrow exceptions. That site is where agencies post open-market purchases over $25,000. Only firms on a Schedule or a governmentwide acquisition contract can answer quote requests on eBuy. Buyers may also set orders aside for small businesses.
How a small firm applies, step by step
- Test the fit in GSA's Vendor Toolbox. Its research step requires the Pathway to Success test and a Readiness Assessment before any proposal.
- Find your Schedule and SIN in GSA eLibrary, then read its solicitation on FedBizOpps. Most Schedule solicitations stay open, so you can usually pick your own timing.
- Register for free. Get a DUNS number, then sign up in the System for Award Management (SAM).
- Register for a past performance evaluation with Open Ratings, a Dun & Bradstreet company. You give it six to 20 customer contacts, and it charges a fee.
- Build the offer around a signed Standard Form 1449 and a dated commercial pricelist with a SIN beside each item.
- Add the Commercial Sales Practice format (CSP-1), which shows your pricing history.
- Send it through eOffer, the only way GSA takes Schedule offers.
- Work through the review. Most offers come back for correction or clarification.
- Be ready to negotiate toward the discounts your most favored customer gets under similar conditions. By that term, GSA means the customer or class of customers with your best pricing.
What comes after the award
A Schedule contract usually starts with a five-year base period, followed by five-year options. Upload your pricelist to GSA Advantage! within six months of the award. Report your Schedule sales and pay GSA's Industrial Funding Fee within 30 days after each quarter ends. The fee is 0.75 percent of sales. To keep the contract, reach $25,000 in Schedule sales in the first 24 months, then $25,000 a year. GSA can cancel a contract, or skip an option, if a firm does not meet its contract requirements. Update your SAM record and small business size status every year.
GSA does not find buyers for you. Its letter to prospective offerors says it does not market specific contracts or steer business to any contractor. Schedule Sales Query lets you check whether competitors have sold similar products and services through Schedules. GSA's Vendor Toolbox also lists a success factor: investing $80,000 to $130,000 to find and manage a first government contract. If that is too much, GSA's list of alternatives includes subcontracting.