The GSA Travel MAS Category allows companies offering travel, relocation, lodging, ticketing, reservation solutions, and anything else related to travel and tourism to sell their services to government agencies through the GSA Schedule for Travel Services.
Let’s take a brief look at the GSA Travel category and how your company can benefit from having a contract in it.
- What is the GSA Travel Category of MAS
- Travel Agent and Misc Services subcategory
- Why pursue a GSA Travel Schedule
- High Volume of GSA Travel Sales
- Very Few Companies Provide Travel Solutions on the GSA Schedule
- How to Get On GSA Travel Solutions Contract
What is the GSA Travel Category of MAS
The GSA Travel or formerly GSA Schedule 599 is a Large Category among 12 categories of products and services within the Multiple Award Schedule program that government agencies use to procure travel services in the most intuitive and straightforward way.
One may ask why would the government need any travel services in the first place, but in fact travel service solutions within the GSA’s Travel Category include hotel reservations and apartments rentals for long stays, relocation services, booking of tickets, various types of consultations, and many other services highly demanded by federal employees all over the U.S. and often required for proper functioning of the diverse government services.
The GSA Travel Large Category encompasses several SINs, namely:
Employee Relocation subcategory:
- SIN 531 – Employee Relocation Solution. All kinds of solutions for relocating employees including but not limited to property management and home sale assistance.
- SIN 541511T – Employee Relocation Management Software. Includes software tools to authorize, plan, repatriate, and manage expenses related to relocation of employees.
Lodging subcategory:
- SIN 531110 – Long Term Lodging.
- SIN 561599L – Lodging Negotiations and Management Services. The subcategory includes all services related to leasing of apartments or houses: reservation, location services, price negotiation, lodging management, reporting, and so on.
Travel Agent and Misc Services subcategory:
- SIN 561510 – Travel Agent Services. Encompasses all kinds of travel services including booking, reservation, ticketing, quality control, reporting, and such.
- SIN 561599 – Travel Consulting Services. All types of consulting regarding travel service: assessment, market research, benchmarking, security, and so on.
Why pursue a GSA Travel Schedule
Getting a GSA Travel Solutions contract can be extremely beneficial for a small business, although this might not be evident straight off the bat. The profitability of this Schedule is a composite of two major factors:
High Volume of GSA Travel Sales
In FY 2022, the GSA reported nearly $750 million in sales within the GSA Travel Category. That’s a huge amount! And it grows every year. But the best part follows next.
Very Few Companies Provide Travel Solutions on the GSA Schedule
Currently, there are as few as 87 companies providing travel services via GSA Travel contracts. Which means that the 8th GSA Large Category by spending shares all its contracts between only a few dozen contractors!
You see now? With an average value of a GSA Travel Contract of $8.6 million, you can expect a real rev-up of your overall sales volume, should you manage to win a GSA Travel award.
How to Get On GSA Travel Solutions Contract
And now for the most interesting part: how do you get on a GSA Travel Solutions contract? Interestingly, many small business owners do not even take this opportunity, seriously believing that a GSA MAS contract is something beyond their reach. Big mistake! In fact, a contract in the GSA Travel category is totally achievable if you go into the affair full bore.
The process consists of several steps to complete:
- Register at SAM.gov as a legitimate small business.
- Prepare all necessary documents and submit your application via the GSA eOffer system.
- Bid for RFPs and RFQs published by federal agencies and submit your proposal.
- Negotiate prices and conditions with a GSA Contracting Officer.
- Finally, get awarded and start selling your travel services to federal buyers.
The sophisticated part of this process is doing everything right and on time. Because any discrepancies in financial documents, compliance, past performance, or price list can result in starting the entire process all over again. This takes months and apparently renders all your time and effort invested into getting a GSA Schedule void.
Please don’t get us wrong: we are not saying it is impossible to get a GSA Schedule all by yourself. In fact, many large companies successfully win dozens of contracts without involving any third-party services that help businesses to get on to a Schedule. But for a small business delegating GSA Schedule hassles to a devoted GSA consultant is only reasonable.
Price Reporter helps small businesses to get onto a GSA Schedule for 17 years already. We already helped more than 700 companies to win a GSA contract, and we can help you too.
Our expertise includes:
- GSA contract consultations.
- Assessment of your situation prior to applying for a GSA Schedule.
- Help in preparing all the required documents including TAA compliance, financial statements, legal statements, and others.
- Help with communication to contracting officers on your behalf.
- GSA contract bid management.
- Federal market research and analysis.
- GSA contract management.
- Legal support.
- GSA order processing automation.
- Electronic document interchange system integration.
If you are ready to put your hand on your share of the $750 million market in the GSA Travel Category, we are ready to help you. Please contact Price Reporter today.
