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.

As your company searches for buyers, whether they’re government customers or commercial entities, you want to make a good first impression to stand out against your competitors. By conveying a message through an effective capabilities statement, you’re one step closer to accomplishing this.

Analyzing your company’s sales is a valuable approach to understand how you’re doing in the federal marketplace as well as identifying any strategic changes you need to make. Every GSA contractor has to report their GSA Schedule sales on a regular basis, and of course it’s always important to keep tabs on your sales to track performance, but it’s also important to take a step back and see what sales look like across the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program. How is your business doing compared to your competitors? What does the market look like overall? Does it look like it's growing or shrinking in certain areas? As a GSA contractor, you have access to several tools to help you assess sales. Let’s talk about the various resources available.

With over 135 federal agencies in existence, the government has tremendous purchasing power in the federal marketplace. Some agencies may be purchasing your products and services in bulk, and some maybe not so much. It’s up to you to ensure that you’re doing your part in conducting market research to identify potential buyers in agencies. Thankfully, GSA has some tools to help you conduct market research. SAM.gov’s Data Bank tool helps you focus your marketing efforts and understand federal purchasing trends.

The Information Technology (IT) field is one of the largest and most competitive fields in federal contracting. Because of this, there are many contractors to compete with and consequently, a need to differentiate your business from others to be more successful in the federal marketplace. To do this, a savvy contractor needs to know the unique practices of GSA Schedule marketing.

Think of the last deadline you missed in your current position or back in school. It happens to the best of us, but either way, we all want to make things right so you can keep your GSA Schedule compliant. One deadline in particular that we stress to not lose track of is your company’s Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) certification. In the past, required contractors just needed to self-certify, but as of this year, you need to officially register and certify through the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Contractor Portal.