Government Contracting Blog

First, congratulations on your GSA award—your GSA Schedule contract will prove to be a valuable contracting vehicle for your organization over the next twenty years. We know you went through a lengthy process to receive your GSA Schedule contract, but unfortunately, the work doesn’t stop there. Now that you have received an award, you’re probably asking yourself how to start selling. 

On July 1, 2020, The General Services Administration (GSA) issued Refresh #3 to its MAS Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001, which may affect your Office Management or Human Capital contracts. Based on feedback from customers, GSA is changing the Special Item Numbers (SINS) in the Office Management and Human Capital large categories on the new consolidated Multiple Award Schedule (MAS). What will these changes look like and what do they mean for your contracts in the future?

Pricing is a key component of every GSA Schedule contract. GSA Schedule contracts are a long-term partnership between the federal government and commercial companies and are one of the most widely used government contract vehicles. The Federal Supply Service, a division of the General Services Administration (GSA), manages this government-wide contracting vehicle, which has been newly branded as the Multiple Award Schedule. The Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) was established under FAR Subpart 8.4 and serves to offer Federal agencies “a simplified process for obtaining commercial supplies and services at prices associated with volume buying.” My role as a GSA consultant requires that I navigate my clients through the construction of an offer that is strategic, compliant, and emphasizes pricing. Here are 5 GSA pricing rules you need to know:

You’re considering government contracting and it seems like the deeper you dive into the subject the longer the list of acronyms and abbreviations you come across becomes. No worries! Below is a guide to the government contracting vehicles that you will come across in your research.

The General Services Administration (GSA) was established in July 1949 by President Harry Truman to streamline the administrative work of the federal government. Today GSA provides centralized procurement for the federal government by managing the Federal Supply Schedules program, known more commonly as GSA Schedules. GSA Schedules is a purchasing vehicle that offers more than 12 million commercial supplies and services and is open for use to any federal agency within the Executive Branch. Currently there are 24 Schedules offering commercial goods and services which are managed directly by GSA. There are also another eight federal supply schedules managed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

There are numerous solicitations available under the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple-Award Schedules (MAS) Program, each representing a different industry. GSA’s IT Schedule 70 includes Information Technology products and services that have been negotiated and awarded under a GSA schedule contract. Under the GSA MAS Program, the Federal government -- and in some cases, State and Local government -- entities can meet virtually every single purchasing need by buying products and services directly from GSA-approved vendors at pre-negotiated prices. GSA contracts offer government customers direct delivery of high-quality commercial supplies and services at discount pricing.