While attaining a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract, you will be required to provide large quantities of information, acting as evidence of the value that your product or service holds. It is easy to accumulate small mistakes that can make or break your proposal once it comes time to submit it on eOffer for review. By being diligent in your drafting process, you can avoid these common pitfalls and submit a successful proposal. In this blog post, we will review general eOffer submission mistakes and the best practices that can help you avoid them.
One of the most avoidable mistakes when submitting through eOffer can be mitigated by ensuring that all of your company’s registrations are up to date. To be awarded a MAS contract, your company must be registered on SAM.gov. This registration will include important information such as your company’s Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), your registration date, points of contact, and business type. This information is all pertinent to the success of your contract and without an active SAM.gov registration, it will be impossible to be awarded.
A vital aspect of any MAS contract acquisition is the inclusion of Special Item Numbers (SINs). SINs indicate the category of products or services used through GSA Schedules, aligning your offering to the relevant SIN scope is an important part of the offer process.
When crafting your proposal, it is important to use verbiage that aligns with the SINs you are including. For example, for SIN 54151S Information Technology Professional Services, it is important to include services that are referenced in the SIN description. This could look like mentioning the ways that your company has implemented “systems analysis” in your past work experience, or your experience with “data records and management”. Selecting the correct SIN for your products or services, as well as providing relevant past performance examples, will indicate preparedness to the CO.
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SIN |
SIN Description |
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54151S Information Technology Professional Services |
54151S IT Professional Services and/or labor categories for database planning and design; systems analysis, integration, and design; programming, conversion and implementation support; network services, data/records management, and testing. |
Market research is a key component of a strong proposal. By adequately researching previous and ongoing contracts that provide similar products and services to your own, you will ensure that the prices you are presenting to the CO are “fair and reasonable” and offer the “best value” to the customer. Tools you can use to help find proper pricing guidelines are GSA Advantage! for commercial products and for labor services, GSA’s CALC. Alongside market justification, math errors in price proposals can act as a hindrance to acquisition.
Forgetting required attachments in your eOffer submission can lead to disqualification even prior to review. It is important to keep track of the “check-list” of materials that accompany the MAS Solicitation you are responding to. The three components of a GSA MAS contract proposal are the Administrative, Technical, and Pricing sections, all of which include different types of information that can be used as proof of your company’s potential value as a contractor.
The first step in identifying necessary documentation is reviewing the specific MAS Solicitation and checking out GSA eLibrary to identify required SIN criteria. Next, you must assemble your corporate experience, financial statements, past performance evaluations, and commercial sales practices disclosures. Lastly, your pricing proposal must build a “fair and reasonable” price supported by commercial price lists or transactional data. If all of these required aspects of your proposal are included, in proper detail, there is a much higher chance of your contract being awarded.
Once you have completed SAM.gov registration, selected your SINs, calculated a “fair and reasonable” price, and pulled together the required resources for your proposal, it is time to submit! First, you must create an FAS ID which is a secure, centralized single sign-on account that lets contractors and government personnel access multiple GSA systems using one email and password. To do so, navigate to the eOffer home page and begin account registration.
Next, you will use your company’s UEI to sign in and access your company-specific portal. You will also be asked to indicate authorized negotiators. You have the option to include just one, but it is smart to have multiple. If you have a consultant working on your GSA MAS contract with you, include them as an authorized negotiator to increase ease of communication. Once you have entered the portal, you are ready to submit!
If you have made it this far, congratulations! You are one step closer to acquiring a GSA MAS contract. If you are still struggling with ensuring that your proposal fulfills GSA’s requirements, there are many more resources available to help you be successful in the process.
Whether you are part of the way through the creation of a proposal, or generally want help in getting started, reach out to one of our consultants and we would be happy to help with your GSA Schedule acquisition. There are many moving parts to the creation of a proposal and with our experience and expertise, we can be the primary set of eyes that ensure that you are able to avoid these common mistakes associated with eOffer submission.