After you have gone through the hoops of getting a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), the basics of maintaining your contract may seem overwhelming. We don’t blame you, there is a lot to keep track of and some compliance measures are more difficult than others. Most of these present challenges include avoiding scammers in System for Award Management (SAM) renewal, not entering correct sales reporting information, and staying on top of contract modifications. In this blog, we’ll talk about the top challenges in maintaining your GSA Schedule and how you can overcome them.

We’re all aware that the federal government is one of the largest buyers in the U.S. Contractors looking to tap into the federal market through GSA Schedules are first going to need to conduct market research to see where they fit in, and will need to continue to research even after they are awarded a contract. But how can we track where all the massive spending is going? Which contracts are obtaining the most cash flows? How much money does each state spend in taxpayer dollars?

We live in a world where it may be as simple as picking up the phone and asking a prospective client if they’d like to purchase what you have to offer. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like this when selling to the federal government. You need to abide by certain rules and regulations, and go through a formal process to sell your products and services. So, how do commercial companies sell to the government?

Throughout the life of your GSA Schedule contract, it’s expected that your business will experience changes, especially since you can hold your contract for up to 20 years. These factors all tie into how you provide discounts to your commercial and federal customers. As a contractor, you have the ability to make changes to your GSA Schedule through an update known as the Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) modification.

Getting a GSA Schedule can be very rewarding, but where do you start? Before your company makes the decision to go through the process of acquiring a GSA Schedule contract, we highly recommend that you take the time to review all of the necessary qualification requirements to make sure it’s right for your company. This is done through a careful review of the MAS Solicitation document, which provides guidance for both prospective and existing contractors for obtaining and maintaining a GSA MAS contract. Within these instructions you will find the specifics on the types of documents you’ll be composing, forms that you’ll be signing, as well as the necessary steps to take to submit the offer to GSA. The solicitation not only provides guidance, but it also provides regulations you need to be mindful of as you go through the process.