Supporting American-made products and services is a Bipartisan effort. Within his first week in office, President Biden has shown he wants to invest in the U.S. economy by signing an Executive Order to strengthen the 'Buy American' rules established by the Federal Government. A similar Executive Order was signed by the previous administration to support the 'Buy American' agenda, but Biden's plan has more specific regulations. President Biden’s 'Made in America' Executive Order outlines the exact requirements moving forward in federal procurement with hopes to spur the U.S. economy.

[This article was last updated on November 10, 2020] Just as GSA contractors thought the updates were slowing down in frequency, the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) issued the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001 - Refresh # 5 on November 9, 2020.

During my time at Winvale, I’ve gotten some very confused looks when I mention I work with government contracts. Friends sometimes assume that I work on top-secret contracts I can’t tell them about or that I simply push papers all day. And to be honest—neither of those are true. Our specialty is helping our clients with all things General Services Administration (GSA). Working with GSA can be like learning a new language with all of the acronyms, and working with a GSA Schedule consultant is like having an interpreter there to help you better understand what’s going on.

This month marked the third and final phase in the General Services Administration’s (GSA) big changes to the Multiple Award Schedule Consolidation. In Phase 1 of the consolidation which wrapped up in September 2019, GSA worked on consolidating the 24 legacy Schedules into one Schedule. In Phase 2, GSA sent out a Mass Modification for contractors to begin to align their contracts under the new consolidated Schedule. Phase 3, which began on August 1, 2020, impacts GSA Schedule contractors with multiple MAS contracts under one Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), e.g., Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number. We know it’s a lot to keep up with these major changes, but it’s our job to stay on top of these important updates for our clients. Let’s dive in to see how Phase 3 will impact you and what next steps you’ll need to take.

GSA contractors have been getting a lot of emails over the last couple weeks. Between the updates to GSA eBuy and the Multiple Award Schedule consolidation, contractors have been flooded with new information that impacts their contract compliance and their typical contract actions. One of the more recent GSA updates is the change to the Mass Modification System which will now require Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

Our world can seem fairly daunting at the moment— high unemployment rates, increased teleworking, and near unprecedented government stimulus proposals. However, though COVID-19 has forced multiple changes worldwide, some industries are able to adapt faster than others. Government contractors have seen their business grow as the need for Coronavirus aid and relief has increased. The government is indeed buying on an extremely elevated level. The GSA Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) Program can offer great benefits to potential contractors, but not everything is smooth sailing. To better understand the GSA Schedules Program and how it fits in with your business plan, we are going to dive into some of the pros and cons of getting on a GSA Schedule contract.