.png "Patrick Morgans")
As a modern business, you are probably aware of the importance of web presence. You likely wouldn’t allow your own website to have outdated information, omit key information, or lack photos. However, sometimes product contractors under the GSA Schedule are not as well versed in how to ensure that their web presence in GSA meets the same standards. 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!.
We often call GSA Advantage! the government version of Amazon because it serves as a one-stop shop of product purchases for government customers. Government agencies can search for millions of products at GSA-approved prices and place their orders directly on the site. Since it’s an easy and efficient way to purchase products, government buyers frequent GSA Advantage!, making it a crucial marketing tool for GSA contractors.
Our clients frequently come to us with questions about GSA Advantage!, so we put together a list of best practices for GSA contractors to follow.
GSA Advantage! Best Practices
Upload Photos to GSA Advantage!
Photos are a crucial part of your GSA Advantage! listing. Uploading clear, high quality photos increases sales, visibility, ranking in search results, and customer loyalty. Government agencies want to see exactly what they are getting, and if it fits their needs.
If you are listing your products on GSA Advantage!, you may be required to provide a photo for each item when you upload your catalog, depending on which SIN the products fall under. If you want to check whether the Special Item Number (SIN) you are selling under requires a photo or has an exception, you can use the lookup tool on the Vendor Support Center. GSA encourages contractors not to upload their logo or the manufacturer’s logo as a replacement. Increasingly, Contracting Officers (COs) have been requiring unique photos for each item on GSA Advantage!, while some highlight specific items that would greatly benefit from unique photos as opposed to a logo.
There are two primary methods of uploading photos to GSA Advantage!, the Schedule Input Program (SIP) or the FAS Catalog Platform (FCP). The FCP is newer and not all contractors have access to it yet, so if you are an authorized negotiator and unsure which of these methodologies your company uses to submit photos to GSA Advantage!, you can try logging into the FCP using your FAS ID. If you are unable to login and access your catalog, even after attempting to register, then you likely do not currently have access to the FCP.
Fear not, we will discuss how to update your GSA Advantage! Catalog under both methods. As a side note, some contractors use the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) instead of SIP or FCP, but those contractors need to use a Value-Added Network or software provider to complete their file submissions.
GSA has a lot of specifications when it comes to uploading photos including the file name, number of characters in the name, file size, and type of file. To learn more about how to upload your photos, GSA provides resources on specific guidelines and requirements for adding photos through SIP and FCP. The most important requirements to keep in mind, regardless of whether you use FCP or SIP, are:
- Photos must be in either JPG or GIF format.
- Maximum photo size is 1MB. (file size cannot be 0).
- Maximum file name size is 80 characters and should contain only letters, numbers, and underscores.
- Up to 4 photos can be included with each product.
Use Detailed Product Name and Descriptions
If you were researching an item to buy on Amazon, you probably wouldn’t purchase from a listing that had very little information and a vague name. For example, if you were looking to buy a camera, you would want to learn about the size of the camera, what kind of lens it has, its processing speed, and any other accessories it comes with.
The same goes for government agencies. If they are searching for a product, they need to find the right item that fulfills their mission. Since government buyers are often searching for a specific item under certain regulations using American tax dollars, they need to make sure they are finding exactly what they need.
On your GSA Advantage! listing, you’ll want to make sure you include a detailed product description and product name, focusing on using the right keywords. The GSA Advantage! search engine prioritizes results in the following order, so you’ll want to make sure to include all of these elements in your listing:
- Part number
- Product name
- Company name
- Product description
More information, such as UPC number, which is actually required for some SINs as seen in the lookup tool, can’t hurt if it is available.
Focus on the Right Keywords
If you have ever conducted Search Engine Optimization (SEO) research for your website, you know it’s important to use popular and targeted keywords. Treat your GSA Advantage! listing the same way. You want to make sure you include the right keywords in your product description so government buyers can find your products easily.
If you are finding out that your products aren’t selling as well as you would like through Advantage, you can always alter your product description to include different keywords to better align your listing with government customer searches. To do this, you can submit your product description change through a technical modification.
If you use the FCP, once the modification is approved, product description changes will automatically be posted to GSA Advantage fairly soon after the modification is approved. If you currently use SIP, you will be required to manually submit a SIP upload after the modification is approved in order to make those changes appear in GSA Advantage!.
How Do You Upload Your Product Information into GSA Advantage?
If you haven’t uploaded your catalog to GSA Advantage! before, or need a refresher on how to add photos or other details, you will do so through either the Schedule Input Program (SIP), EDI, or the FCP. These programs are used to update your product information after any GSA Schedule contract modifications like price changes, contact information changes, or if you want to update/edit your product information and photos.
SIP
If you are not currently under FCP and don’t use EDI, you must download and install the SIP software. After this, you’ll want to upload your catalog including photo, price, and product information. Information can either be imported into SIP from Excel spreadsheets or directly entered into SIP itself. SIP serves as a backend to GSA Advantage!, so once the files are approved, it will appear on the site usually within 24 hours.
However, it can take a few days to a couple weeks for your Contracting Officer to process SIP uploads. If it has been more than a couple of weeks since your SIP upload and the contract administrator on your Schedule has not received emails from GSA confirming acceptance or rejection of your upload, you may want to reach out to your Contracting Officer to confirm they have received the upload on their end.
Please note that changes from a modification are required to be accompanied with a SIP upload containing the changes within 30 days of award of the modification. With SIP, you are required to manually submit a SIP upload after the modification has been awarded.
There are a lot of moving parts to SIP and it can be a frustrating process to successfully upload your GSA Advantage! catalog, so if you want a step-by-step walkthrough of how to complete a SIP upload, you can watch our webinar on mastering SIP. GSA also provides a Start-up Kit and User Guide and Import Instructions that you may find helpful.
FCP
If you use the FCP, however, your product information, photos, etc. will automatically be updated based on the information you submitted as part of the modification in the Product File, which merges the information previously contained in both the Price Proposal Template (PPT) and SIP templates. It frontloads the process so that all information, including part numbers, photos, etc. is submitted with the modification.
If you would like to learn more about how to use the FCP, GSA has a YouTube playlist full of videos on accessing and using the FCP as well as a webpage of Help Resources.
Want to Learn More About GSA Advantage?
As we’ve discussed, GSA Advantage! is one of the most important platforms for GSA contractors to care for, and your catalog must be kept appealing and up to date if you want to ensure you are meeting your full GSA sales potential. With some effort and following these best practices, you can ensure that, whether you use the FCP or SIP, you are providing everything customers need in order to make an informed decision. If you have any questions about GSA Advantage! or your GSA Schedule, one of our consultants would be happy to help you.
