Last month, our contract support experts represented the Winvale team at the Small Business Administration (SBA) Baltimore District Office’s workshop: Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting Program. Workshops hosted by the SBA are extremely beneficial for all small business owners looking to acquire the right tools to succeed in the federal marketplace.

The Formatted Product Tool (FPT) is one of GSA’s most recent developments in its Competitive Pricing Initiative and as of July 2016, FPT has been implemented to select product Schedules as part of its Phase I rollout. Below is a Beginner’s Guide for what contractors need to know once they’ve decided to implement FPT. If you’re interested in learning more about FPT and the implementation schedule, check our previous blog An Executive Overview to GSA's FPT.

Just after its 67th anniversary, GSA began Phase I rollout of its Formatted Product Tool (FPT) in an effort to facilitate the standardization of similar parts offered by different contractors and increase the efficiency in which contractor’s pricelists are updated and made available on GSAAdvantage!. FPT is a systems upgrade within the existing eOffer and eMod platforms for certain Schedules and is an enhancement for GSA Schedule contractors as it eliminates the need for the Schedule Input Program (SIP) and Contracting Officer Review System (CORS) processes. For those not familiar with SIP, this is one of the most common methods for uploading your GSA Pricelist, so that your products/services are visible on GSA eLibrary and GSAAdvantage!. This process can be quite lengthy because it is a multi-stage process requiring 1) a pricelist to be awarded through a new offer award or existing contract modification; 2) the pricelist to be uploaded by the contractor through SIP; and 3) the price ist to be approved by GSA which would result in the pricelist being posted online. Typically, contractors expect no less than 48 hours for their pricelist to be updated. The program can have glitches as well so, combined with the length of time to complete the process, it has been a source of frustration for contractors since its inception. FPT is meant to eliminate the lag between award and acceptance of their new pricelist.

In an effort to better align GSA Schedule labor regulations with the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Service Contract Labor Standards (SCLS), formerly known as the Service Contract Act, the GSA Federal Acquisition Service plans to update all GSA Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) to comply with SCLS. This update will ensure most recent wages are incorporated into individual task orders.

Preparing a GSA Schedule proposal for submission is a tedious and sometimes frustrating process for applicants. In a previous blog post, we’ve given you our ten tips for writing a public sector proposal, but there are so many components when it comes to creating a successful RFP that we decided to delve deeper. Having a GSA schedule contract is helpful for contractors who want to sell to federal agencies, but getting one awarded to your organization isn’t always easy, or fast.

Last week, our contract support experts represented the Winvale team at the GSA’s 2016 Office of Small Business Utilization (OSBU) Spring Conference: Making it Easier to do Business with the GSA. This event is extremely beneficial for small business owners looking to acquire the right tools to succeed in the federal marketplace. It served as a great opportunity to network with contracting professionals, learn new skills and even take advantage of one-on-one counseling.