About GSA Contracts

Pursuing government contracts remains a mysterious process for many small business owners. The task seems almost impossible and achievable only by a few chosen companies. But in reality, federal government contracts are a very effective method of boosting sales for almost any small business! Yes, any. Well, of course, there are certain requirements your business must meet, but in the end GSA contracts are much more attainable than one might think. And this is good news, considering that the overall volume of federal contracts exceeded $690 billion in 2022, of which over $159 billion were awarded exclusively to small business government contractors.

Like in any other industry, there could also be scams and frauds in government contracting. As a GSA vendor, you should know about the typical scams you can face within the General Services Administration’s schedules program. Interestingly enough, even though GSA scams are financially dangerous, there are also ways to benefit from them, if you know how to.

The federal procurement process is governed by hundreds of laws, regulations, and clauses. Among commonly overlooked ones are the competition requirements. In this post we will cover everything you need to know on this topic. More specifically: what are competitive requirements of the Federal Government; why these requirements are important; are there any exclusions from the competition rules; and what is the optimal bidding strategy when it comes to competitive solicitations.

Let’s talk about government market trends and analysis. The importance of government market research is hard to underestimate. Indeed, it is hard to succeed in conducting business with the government when there is a lack of understanding of the current needs of the federal agencies and the existing offers of other vendors on the market.

With abundance of various items, products, parts, elements, and details to procure, federal agencies need a simple and unified way to unambiguously identify a particular item. This task is resolved via National Stock Numbers / NSN, a numbering system that aims to simplify federal and military procurement and avoid purchasing duplicate items.

From this article you will learn what is NSN, how it is assigned, and how do you read the National Stock Number.

As a government contractor you are a subject to a number of compliance requirements that are necessary to become a holder of either a  GSA Schedule or another federal acquisition vehicle, and to continue being one during the entire term of contract duration.

Finding a good opportunity to sell is vital on both the commercial and federal marketplaces.  Possessing a GSA Schedule by itself doesn’t yet mean much. Yes, you are a GSA Schedule holder now, but this alone by itself is not enough. Now, if you want to become a successful GSA Schedule holder, you need to start looking for opportunities and market your products to government buyers.

The GSA Advantage Online marketplace was designed to facilitate government purchasing activity and provide a service that is aimed at improving the acquisition while minimizing waste of resources. In 2021, Robin Carnahan was appointed by Joe Biden to GSA Administrator position replacing Emily Murphy, and with that GSA started implementing some major system improvement projects. 

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You may have heard it hundreds of times already: winning a GSA Schedule contract is great success for a business. But is your company ready and set up to achieve this success? In fact, more than 80% of GSA Schedule contract holders do not make a single sale on the federal marketplace. Ever. Apparently, they were not ready. And are you? You better learn this before applying for a Schedule.