Government Contracting Blog

Hurricane season is approaching quickly, and if you've been watching any news related to the weather, you've seen how this season is predicted to be active and full of storms. On top of the recent unexpected earthquakes and tornadoes ripping through the mid-west, the government is going to be busy preparing and picking up the fallout from these natural disasters. In order to acquire the goods and services that are necessary to rebuild in a quick and efficient manner, many government agencies are purchasing items from commercial businesses through the General Services Administration (GSA) Disaster Recovery Purchasing Program. This program is an essential part of ensuring the government’s response to disasters is successful, cost-effective, and timely.

If you have a GSA Schedule or have worked with the GSA in any capacity, you have undoubtedly heard the terms “NAICS Code” referenced before. But what exactly is a NAICS Code? And what is their relevance to GSA Schedules? NAICS is an acronym for North American Industry Classification System that was established in 1997 to create more connectivity with statistical agencies of Mexico and Canada. A NAICS code is a six-digit numeric code. The purpose in creating this specific classification system was simple: to create a universal North American standard and provide a platform by which Federal Statistics Agencies could better analyze and publicize the collection of statistical data related to the US economy.

Have you ever gotten an email saying that you will need to pay hundreds of dollars to renew your SAM.gov registration? Contractors should be wary of these offers, some of which are outright scams, because registering and updating your business’s registration in SAM.gov is always free. If you are already a federal contractor, you probably have dealt with registration in SAM.gov, and as you can imagine, keeping this registration updated yearly is important.

For new and experienced GSA Schedule contract holders, juggling the task of acquiring and managing orders from another larger purchaser like the government can be daunting. Especially when there's a specific number of sales you need to meet to comply with the minimum sales requirement.

It happens to every GSA Schedule contractor at one point or another. After you’re worked hard at preparing a modification, submitted it, and gotten excited about the upcoming changes to your GSA Schedule, you receive an email informing you that the modification will be rejected.

An essential aspect of your GSA Schedule is maintenance and compliance. One of the more critical compliance requirements for GSA contractors is submitting sales in the Federal Acquisition Service Sales Reporting Portal, also known as the FAS SRP. The FAS SRP supports data collection required by FAS procurement programs, including Multiple Award Schedules and other Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACS).