Government Contracting Blog

In order to do business with the federal government, you must register through the System for Award Management, or SAM.gov, and obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). This is a requirement for all GSA Schedule contractors before they begin preparing their offer, and it’s important you know how to navigate the registration and renewal process correctly. This will save you time in the long run in case there are errors in your registration, and you have to go back and fix them. In this blog, we’ll cover some of the aspects of SAM registration companies may overlook or be confused about so you can be prepared when the time comes for registration or renewal.

After having a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract awarded, contractors will have access to a large federal marketplace with many potential buyers. However, it can be overwhelming to understand the opportunities and strategies available to contractors. Government buyers use a few resources to research or evaluate potential GSA Schedule contractors that could fulfill their project or order requirements through a Request for Information (RFI), Request for Proposal (RFP), or Request for Quote (RFQ). While each request differs in their degree of formality, a Request for Quote is important for contractors to understand to accurately respond to a government solicitation and hopefully win a contract.

With a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), you can access a wide network of federal, state, and local agencies looking to procure products and services. One misconception contractors have, however, is they can sit back and watch the orders roll in the minute their contract is awarded. This isn't true for the commercial world, and generally isn't true for the public sector either. While you are part of a unique pool of contractors, you still have to compete with other companies for business, and be proactive about advertising your solutions to government agencies.

The General Services Administration (GSA) celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. You may have heard of GSA and may even be quite familiar with the federal contracting side of it considering you’ve arrived here at this blog. GSA has come a long way from their origin stockpiling strategic supplies for wartime to maintaining the most popular government contract vehicle: the government-wide Multiple Award Schedule. In this blog we’ll go over the history of GSA, how its functions have evolved over time, and what its current initiatives are.

Once your GSA Schedule has been awarded, it can be tempting to rest on your laurels – you’ve put in a lot of work to get here. However, GSA requires new Schedule contractors to complete a few administrative tasks following contract award. You’ll also have some ongoing contract maintenance responsibilities throughout the life of your contract.

So, you want to sell your solutions to the government with a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)—where do you begin? The bottom line here is getting a GSA Schedule or any government contract is not an easy task. It requires time, bandwidth, and a certain degree of government contracting knowledge. This is where GSA Schedule consultants come in.