Government Contracting Blog

When a government agency has a need for a product or service, the dollar amount determines how they go about procuring it. One of the most important of these benchmarks is the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) — the dollar amount under which agencies can use streamlined acquisition procedures to buy goods and services. These simplified methods are designed to reduce administrative burden and speed up procurement, which benefits contractors and agencies alike. Recently, a final rule was issued to raise the Simplified Acquisition Threshold from $250,000 to $350,000 to account for inflation. This is good news for contractors, especially small businesses. This blog post defines the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT), its purpose, its impact on small businesses, and what you should do when searching for opportunities within the set threshold.

Many government contractors are undoubtedly familiar with SAM.gov (System for Award Management). One of its most important functions is the entity registration process, in which federal contractors are required to be active on SAM and continue to keep company information up-to-date. Due to this, many scammers have targeted companies needing to register or renew their SAM entity. In the blog, we’ll walk through what the contractors must know when utilizing SAM, such as how to register in SAM, what some of the more common scams contractors will run into, and how to stay compliant with changing regulations.

A very common question we receive as GSA consultants from contractors, especially in their first option period of their GSA Schedule, is “Are there any consequences to no or low GSA sales?” Or “What are some good tips or tricks to generate GSA sales and ensure we are remaining complaint with GSA regulations?” In this blog, we will address the current rules in place for minimum sales on the GSA Schedule, potential repercussions or actions GSA may take if these criteria are not met, and best practices to generate or increase GSA sales and remove any concerns regarding our former mentioned points.

Not all offerings under Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) are created equal. Two categories, Highly Configurable Products and the Cloud Special Item Number (SIN) 518210C, have unique reporting rules under TDR. These categories require different reporting elements and approaches. In this blog, we’ll cover what TDR is, define Highly Configurable Products and the Cloud SIN, and explain how to navigate TDR reporting for these categories.

Today marks the first day of the Fiscal Year 2026, and the first day of the government shutdown. When this happens, agencies must rely on contingency or “shutdown” plans to determine which operations continue and which must pause. Shutdowns create delays and uncertainty for government contractors, but not all agencies close their doors completely during this time. For example, the General Services Administration (GSA) is a self-funded agency and largely remains open. In this article, we’ll explore how agencies decide what remains open, which major departments continue operating, and what this means for government contractors.

GSA utilizes Special Item Numbers (SINs) to categorize the product or service offerings contractors can have awarded on the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS). Many SINs require contractors’ or offerors’ services to meet specific standards or regulations to have the SIN awarded. A popular SIN that limits the types of services vendors can provide is the Engineering Services SIN or SIN 541330ENG. For example, traditional architect-engineer (A-E) services are not allowed to be sold through this SIN or any other SIN in general. However, the Engineering SIN is not the only SIN that limits engineering firms in their service offerings; the Environmental Consulting Services SIN also requires contractors or offerors looking to add this SIN to meet a few requirements.