During the government’s Fiscal Year 2017, federal agencies purchased nearly $70 billion worth of professional services making it the second-largest category of Government Spend. The General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) Professional Services Schedule (PSS) currently holds 4,258 awarded federal contractors to provide government customers with professional services, and new contractors are being added continuously, but only after what has become an average 12-month review wait time for New Offers under the PSS Solicitation.
In October 2018, GSA announced surprising changes that will likely be implemented into the PSS Solicitation during Q1 Fiscal Year 2019 which will further streamline and reduce offer review times for both contractors and GSA Contracting Officers. If there’s any time that would be best for contractors to submit a PSS Offer, it will be arriving soon.
Below are significant changes GSA has mentioned will be made, which are aimed to improve review times for New Offers and Modifications submitted under the PSS Solicitation:
1. Streamlining the PSS Proposal Instructions: For example, requiring one (1) Project Experience per SIN instead of two, which is the current requirement
2. Updating eOffer to incorporate more data into the eOffer system than requiring multiple attached documents
3. SIN Consolidation:
- Thorough review of current PSS SINS to identify redundancies and consolidate current SINs
- Applying a more thoughtful approach considering when and why new SINs should be added to the PSS
4. Improving market research tools: Updating GSA’s CALC tool to add more labor categories and the ability to search by contractor name or Schedule number will provide improved market research for faster price analyses during New Offer and Modification reviews.
Other changes recently implemented into the GSA Schedules Program include the Order Level Materials SIN and the Commercial Supplier Agreement (CSA) regulations. Both initiatives were released with the intent to make the procurement process easier and reduce GSA’s review times. If all these changes are put into practice, hopefully we will see a quicker turnaround for both New Offers and Modifications to existing GSA Contracts under the PSS.
If you’re interested in finding out more about Solicitation Refreshes, New Offers under the GSA Professional Services Schedule, or updates to your existing GSA Schedule Contract, send any additional questions to Winvale’s team of GSA experts. Contact us today to learn how Winvale can help both existing and prospective GSA Contractors with their GSA Schedules.