Government Contracting Blog

The GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program is comprised of 12 Large Categories to sell through, including the popular Information Technology, Professional Services, and Industrial Products and Services Large Categories. However, there are additional Large Categories that align with different industries and allow for the sale of more niche offerings. Did you know you can sell air charter services, delivery services, vehicles, boats, and shipping containers to federal buyers through GSA MAS? If your business specializes in these or similar services, then the Transportation and Logistics Services Large Category, or Large Category K, could be an opportunity for you to expand into the federal marketplace.

In the near future, many GSA Schedule holders will need to add another acronym to their vocabulary of federal contracting terms, TDR. TDR, which stands for Transactional Data Reporting, started as a pilot program in 2016, and is finally rolling out to all Schedule holders. As of MAS Solicitation Refresh #28, TDR became mandatory for any Schedule holder with a TDR-eligible Special Item Number (SIN).

If you’ve made the decision to pursue a GSA Schedule contract, one of the first choices you will need to make is whether to go it alone or hire a GSA consultant to help. At first, your instinct might be to save money and handle it internally because you may have a sales or marketing team that deals with your commercial sales. However, it's important to remember that the government marketplace is a whole new world. The acquisition process is not easy or straightforward, and once you get your contract awarded, you have to manage it for up 20 years.

If you were recently awarded a GSA Schedule contract, you have likely been inundated with all the tasks required to manage your awarded contract. One key compliance requirement is completing your Baseline modification in GSA’s FAS Catalog Platform (FCP). GSA only recently made the change from the legacy SIP software to FCP for catalog management, so even contractors experienced with GSA may be unfamiliar with FCP. In this blog, we’ll go over the steps to complete an FCP Baseline modification.

If you’ve submitted a Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) offer before, you know that waiting for GSA to process and review your offer can feel like the hardest part. In the last few months, GSA has made some changes to how it reviews MAS offers, with the goal of streamlining the process for contractors and Contracting Specialists alike.

Are you a furniture manufacturer or Value-Added Reseller (VAR) of furniture products who wants to expand your business opportunities within the federal government? Competing on the open market can be a great way to secure stand-alone bids. However, many of the solicitations that federal buyers release, go through contracting vehicles designed to streamline the procurement process. The Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program administered by General Services Administration (GSA) is the most prominent of these vehicles when it comes to furniture and furnishings. GSA MAS offers federal customers shorter procurement lead times and lower administrative costs than establishing a new contract.