It’s that time again—GSA released the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001 Refresh #7 on August 31, 2021. With Q4 of the federal government Fiscal Year in full swing, it’s important for contractors to stay updated on all the changes to their GSA Schedule contracts. So, what does the Solicitation Refresh mean for contractors and what action needs to be taken?

The GSA Schedule acquisition process is difficult enough as it is—you don’t want to worry about whether you’re doing all this work just to get rejected by GSA. While the process involves a lot of documentation, preparation, and negotiation, it’s not an unreachable goal to get your GSA Schedule awarded. However, rejection happens. Some of our clients have come to us after trying to get a GSA Schedule on their own and they were rejected and had to start over. So, we put together 5 reasons your GSA Schedule proposal could be rejected and how to avoid them.

As a GSA Schedule contractor, you want to make sure your products and services are found easily by government customers. GSA has several procurement platforms to help contractors list their solutions and bid on contracting opportunities, but the most important site for selling products is GSA Advantage!.

The new SAM.gov is here—on May 24, 2021, beta.SAM.gov and SAM.gov merged and became one website. The System for Award Management, or SAM, is now the official site for people who make, receive, and manage federal awards. Earlier this year, GSA launched a new design for beta.SAM, which was planned to ease contractors into the new SAM.gov interface. There were several changes to the look and feel of the site, but the functionality remained the same. Now, both the design and the functionality has changed.

2021 is expected to be a strong year for mergers and acquisitions. Since mergers and acquisition (M&A) trends took a hit during the pandemic, M&A activity is starting to ramp up, and 2021 is already proving to be a busy year. In the high-financed, fast-paced world of mergers and acquisitions, one aspect of the deal that is often over-looked or misunderstood, is contract novation. Many people unfamiliar with the federal market don’t realize that if you buy a government contractor, their federal contracts may not transfer to the acquirer or new entity. And this can represent a BIG problem if the valuation formula was based on the revenue from those federal contracts.

More updates are coming for GSA contractors—on May 17, 2021, GSA released the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001 - Refresh # 6. This Solicitation will be accompanied by a Mass Modification (Mass Mod) for all GSA Schedule contractors. Action is required on this Mass Mod, so it’s important you understand what these upcoming changes mean to you as a contractor. Here's what you need to know: