Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) are a working way to turn your now small business to something bigger. By carefully considering and using GSA Schedule opportunities, you as a business owner can greatly increase your profits, outcome competition, and create a stable foundation for further growth of your business. In this article we discuss how a small business can become a GSA Schedule contractor and get the most from it.
How is selling to the government different from selling commercially?
2020 proved to be a difficult, disruptive, and unstable year for business. But selling to the U.S. Government via the GSA Multiple Award Schedule, one of the largest purchasing programs in the world, provides a reliable source of business for GSA Schedule contractors as well as a great number of other advantages which we have outlined in this article.
How to upload your GSA Catalog to GSA Advantage
GSA Advantage Requirements
Once your company secures either a GSA Schedule or a VA Contract, you are required to upload your approved GSA price list or catalog onto a government e-commerce website called “GSA Advantage”, so that your products and services are made available to federal buyers. As a GSA / VA Contract holder, you are responsible for keeping your GSA Advantage catalog and pricing up to date. Any GSA contract modification such as product or labor category additions, deletions, or price changes, should be uploaded to GSA Advantage in a timely manner. If you are also registered on the DOD FedMall, your catalog will need to be updated on that platform to reflect any changes that have been made on GSA Advantage.
State and Local Government Program Opportunities for GSA Contractors
The GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) creates wide-ranging and lucrative opportunities between businesses and the U.S. Government. Yet GSA sales are not restricted to a customer base of federal and executive agencies only. Through certain purchasing programs, state and local governments and educational institutions can take advantage of the federal government’s purchasing power and access the GSA marketplace. For GSA MAS contractors, selling to state and local governments greatly expands the range of business opportunities available to them.
What is the Industrial Funding Fee (IFF)?
- So, what is the IFF?
- How to calculate the IFF?
- Is every product and service a subject to IFF?
- How and when to pay the Industrial Funding Fee?
- Why are reporting sales and paying Industrial Funding Fee important?
The Industrial Funding Fee is a fee the GSA applies to all reported sales, in order to cover its operating costs. In this article we will take a closer look at what the IFF is, how to calculate it, and what permissible ways there are, to pay this fee to the GSA.
FDPS Report Function Transits to Beta.SAM.gov. Are You Ready?
- What is the FPDS reporting function?
- What are FPDS report types?
- How did the change affect contractors?
- How were older FPDS reports converted to beta.SAM.gov reports?
- What should you do upon FPDS-NG report function transition before Jan 31, 2020?
- What if something went wrong?
- How did ad hoc reports change after transition?
FPDS.gov has moved its reports to the new platform, beta.SAM.gov, in 2020. Since the transition finished, all the reporting capabilities of the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) are now available at beta.SAM.gov. The process required you to act by the end of January, 2020. In this article we will explain what you should know about the transition.
What is Priority Purchasing with The AbilityOne® Program?
- What is Priority Purchasing?
- Do I need to be authorized before distributing AbilityOne products?
- How do I become an authorized AbilityOne distributor?
- Is there a cost or fee to become an authorized AbilityOne distributor?
- Once I am authorized, how do I obtain AbilityOne products?
- Can AbilityOne products be sold to commercial entities?
- How will becoming an authorized AbilityOne distributor benefit my firm?
- How can authorized AbilityOne distributors participate in federal electronic commerce?
- How can you join the AbilityOne program?
Blind and significantly disabled people face considerable obstacles when searching for competitive employment, leaving 70% unable to find a job in the U.S. But thanks to the AbilityOne program, over 45,000 people with blindness or serious disabilities, including 3,000 veterans, are now in stable employment. The training, wages and experience provided through AbilityOne allows them to participate fully in their communities, support their families, and gain independence.
Three Crucial GSA Regulations You Need to Know About
- Eligible Ordering Activities
- Why 552.238-113 regulation is important?
- Trade Agreements Act
- Why is the Trade Agreements Act important?
- Industrial Funding Fee and Sales Reporting
- Why is GSAM 552.238-80 important?
Federal acquisitions are governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) – a scope of rules and requirements, establishing the way GSA agencies procure, and regulating how GSA Schedule contractors should go about providing products and services. Success on the federal market depends largely on how well you understand the FAR. Here, we explain the three important regulations that every GSA Schedule contractor should know about.
How to Price Your GSA Services
GSA Pricing Principles Overview
GSA Schedule Contracts serve as essential government procurement vehicles for a wide range of services, products, and expendables. To facilitate this, the government issues solicitations and selects contractors offering the best value for their money. But how does the government determine what constitutes the best price? Here, we outline the fundamental principles of GSA pricing evaluation.
How to Sell to Local and State Governments via the Cooperative Purchasing Program
State and local governments or shortly STLOCs are somewhat restricted to use GSA Schedules to procure products and services they need. Before the pandemic, one of available ways for STLOCs to procure using GSA Schedules was the Cooperative Purchasing Program. In this article we explain how businesses can sell to state, local and tribal governments this way.
