Government Contracting Blog

After months of drafts, comments, and pushback from industry on a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) clause, GSA has decided to move forward with it. General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) clause 552.239-7001, “Basic Safeguarding of Data within Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence Systems” is a class deviation that becomes effective on October 19, 2026, but Contracting Officers (COs) can theoretically start using it now. GSA has also listed the clause in its advance notice for Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation Refresh #34, which is expected to be released in November 2026.

The General Services Administration (GSA) recently announced the retirement of their 2nd Generation Information Technology (2GIT) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), a popular vehicle created for streamlined access to IT and software solutions. The 2GIT BPA ran from March 2021 through September 2026, but GSA said they do not have plans to renew this vehicle, as part of the White House’s initiative to consolidate procurement. GSA is now directing agencies over to the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program and a few device-specific BPAs (for high-volume purchases) for their IT needs.

Getting a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract opens a valuable channel for selling your products and services to the federal government, but the acquisition process requires significant time, preparation, and knowledge of GSA requirements. From gathering proposal documentation to selecting the right Special Item Numbers (SINs) and preparing for negotiations, there are several steps to navigate before your contract is awarded.

The federal government's Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 ends today, and FY2027 starts tomorrow on October 1st. For GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contractors, that means the Q4 spending push is wrapping up and it’s time to think about the “new year”.

When applying for a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract, offerors generally must rely on their own corporate experience to demonstrate capability. But what if your business has subsidiaries with their own contract experience? Is the experience of your subsidiaries considered your business’s past experience in the MAS Solicitation? And what about Joint Ventures (JVs) that your business may be involved in – is that experience usable in a MAS offer proposal?

While pursuing a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract, you are destined to encounter many acronyms, all of which may seem foreign to you. Two of the most used acronyms in the government contracting space are NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Codes and SINs (Special Item Numbers). While these both help identify the type of product or service that your company is hoping to provide, they serve quite different purposes.