Keeping up with your GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) is important now more than ever. GSA is looking for ways to cut costs and increase efficiency, and contractors who are not maintaining contract compliance or meeting their minimum sales requirement are at risk of contract cancellation. While this has always been a risk, GSA is really cracking down on contractors who are not succeeding in the MAS Program.
As a small business ourselves, we know it can be difficult for some companies to keep up with these requirements because they don’t have the bandwidth or resources to manage their contract for up to 20 years. If you are experiencing this, it may be beneficial for you to hire a GSA Schedule consultant to help you manage your contract. Many companies don't know where to start in this process or they have a tough time justifying the investment. Let's cover how consultants can help you manage your GSA contract and if it's something your company needs.
A common misconception held by companies interested in obtaining a GSA Schedule is that once it is awarded, there is no more work. Consultants can help you to understand the nuances associated with contract maintenance.
GSA Schedule consultants are positioned to help you handle the compliance aspects of your contract so you can focus your attention on the business development side.
Consultants help clients with GSA Schedule maintenance by ensuring that all necessary documentation and requirements are compliant with GSA standards. With the expertise of a GSA consultant, your company can make educated decisions and make sure you are keeping up with your contract.
Whether you just awarded a GSA Schedule or if you have held one for an extended period of time, a consultant can help you with regulations such:
While we would certainly recommend working with a consultant to maintain your GSA contract, especially if you don't have someone on your team who has experience with GSA Schedules and can dedicate a lot of their time to your contract, it's not required. You or your executive team might be wondering what the benefit is to investing in GSA Schedule maintenance consulting, or if you really need it. To determine the answer to this, we generally ask two questions.
As noted above, the requirements and regulations in place to sell to the government are complex. While possible to maintain a government contract by yourself, the burdens of keeping up with the maintenance can quickly overwhelm a company that is ill-equipped to handle the abundance of work. In addition to helping with all desired contract modifications, consultants handle myriad tasks behind the scenes as well.
For example, when GSA issues a new mass modification, consultants, who are constantly monitoring such changes, will have detailed knowledge of the modification that we can share with you as soon as the initiative is announced. This is important because as the next section details, a failure to meet contract requirements and updates in a timely manner will result in negative consequences for your company. GSA has also released several Mass Modifications as part of MAS Solicitation Refreshes in the past year, so there are a lot to keep up with.
GSA has also made several changes recently, including updating regulations, launching new programs and websites, and implementing new processes. With the new administration, we expect to see a lot more fundamental changes within the MAS Program and to federal contracting as a whole. With the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) overhaul, and GSA taking on the procurement of most common good and services, it's a lot to keep up with.
We generally tell companies inquiring about hiring a consultant for maintenance that if they have an experienced team that understands the ins and outs of government contracting and can dedicate a significant amount of workload and time to their contract, they may not need to hire anyone. However, a lot of companies, especially small businesses, do not have the resources to take on a contract of their own. A consultant can help you with the bulk of your maintenance, or just hourly support as needed.
The primary concern we see with companies looking to hire a consultant is the cost. It's not cheap to hire a consultant, especially if you want a full-service firm that gives you more support and handles most of the post-award maintenance tasks for you.
Depending on the level of your need, we suggest budgeting $15,000 to $30,000 a year for GSA Schedule maintenance. Most consulting firms will offer hourly vs. annual support depending on how much help you think you need. While these numbers may seem high, it's significantly less than hiring a new person on your team to become a GSA Schedule maintenance expert. You can save those salary funds for an employee who can specialize in business development or sales.
If you've decided you want to hire a GSA Schedule consultant for maintenance, the next hurdle we see companies face is who to hire. There's a lot of options out there, ranging from cheap firms to mid-range and full-service. We usually gloss over the cheap firms because they are often "scammy" in nature, and aren't reliable for support.
Mid-range firms are a perfectly acceptable choice, but it depends on what you are expecting in terms of support when you spend money. Most mid-range firms will give you templates to use and you go on your way, so if you're just looking for a little bit of guidance, that could be a cheaper option for you. But if you want to make a full investment, full-service firms will handle most of the maintenance tasks and educate you along the way.
The next step once you identify what type of service you want, is picking an experienced and dedicated firm. You'll want to make sure you're asking the right questions to find the firm that's right for you. Examples of questions you can ask are:
If you are interested in maintaining your own GSA Schedule, then a great resource to check out is the GSA Compliance checklist. Here you will find the documentation and instructions necessary for maintaining compliance. We also have some free resources about managing your GSA Schedule:
If you are interested in learning more about hiring a consultant, Winvale offers agreements to help you maintain your government contract. If you have any additional questions or would like to see more about what it is Winvale does, please contact us below.