If you're a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contractor who’s regularly using the FAS Catalog Platform (FCP) to process product files for contract modifications, you've likely encountered compliance or pricing flags during the submission process. While these system validations help ensure your catalog meets GSA requirements, resolving each flagged item can become time-consuming. Fortunately, the FCP includes a feature designed to streamline that process.
If you offer products and you’re looking to reduce the time spent resolving routine catalog issues, it's worth taking advantage of the “Quick Update” feature in the FCP. Before we dive into the specifics of what the Quick Update feature can do for you as a Schedule holder, let’s take a step back and walk through a little bit more on the FCP and how it’s tied to the eMod system for modification processing.
How the FCP is linked to eMod
The FAS Catalog Platform (FCP) is now an integral part of the GSA contract modification process. Before submitting many product-or catalog-related modifications through eMod, contractors must first upload their Product File into the FCP. To do this, contractors will go into the FCP and select the Catalog Action that matches their intended modification, then select the eMod ID from the dropdown list. Once the Product File is uploaded, the system validates your submission by checking for formatting errors, compliance issues, pricing discrepancies, and other potential problems that could prevent your modification from being processed.
If no issues are identified, the FCP will notify you that your product/services file has successfully passed validation and will automatically take the information that was listed on the product file and generate a Compliance & Pricing (C&P) Report. You’ll need to upload this report to the FCP so it’ll be sent over to eMod. Then, you can return to eMod and submit it to your Contracting Officer and/or Specialist for review.
Apply a Quick Update to the FCP
The “Quick Update” feature is available when the FCP detects and flags issues with your products such as pricing discrepancies or other minor data integrity issues. When you’re taken to the “Review C&P Results Summary” page in FCP, you’ll receive a detailed analysis of the issues identified in your product file. Some of the flags you may encounter when reviewing the report include TAA Compliance (Trade Agreements Act), Prohibited Product(s), and the most common issue, Exceeds Market Research.
To save contractors time and effort when revising their product files, the “Quick Update” feature allows you to select specific categories of products to be removed from the file. The following categories are available for Quick Update:
☐ Exceeds Market Threshold
☐ No Market Research Found
☐ Within Market Threshold (Low Outlier)
☐ Self Hits Only
☐ Unauthorized Vendor
☐ Prohibited Product(s)
☐ Potential MiA Misrepresentation
☐ Trade Agreements Act (TAA, Non-Compliance)
☐ Essentially the Same (ETS) as AbilityOne / JWOD
☐ Missing or Invalid Data (Screened by Market Research Service)
Once a Quick Update is selected and performed, two “Clean” Product Files will be generated:
- Proposed Product File with Updates – Contains products that are ready to move forward.
- Proposed Removals File – Contains products removed based on the categories selected during the Quick Update.
It’s important to note that while submitting Clean Product Files may initiate an expedited review, all modifications remain subject to the normal evaluation requirements.
General Reminders On FCP Uploads
Keep in mind that when submitting a modification, you should avoid including any unrelated changes in the same modification submission. For example, if you’re looking to add products to your Schedule, you should not select another modification type, such as an Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) modification, in the eMod system when creating the modification. This must be completed in a separate modification. You should also remember that you can only add products that fall within the scope of the currently awarded Special Item Numbers (SINs) on your Schedule.
When completing your Product File, it should contain only the information necessary to support the specific changes being requested. For example, if you’re submitting an Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) modification, make sure that you:
- Do not add any new products to your Schedule as part of the EPA modification.
- Do not include existing products that are already on your Schedule in the Product File.
The Product File is intended to describe and support the changes being requested. Any items that should not be included in the Product File may be flagged under “Prohibited Product(s)” on the C&P report.
Split Your Modification Submissions
If the FCP generated C&P report indicates that you have a number of products that exceed market research, keep those modification submissions separate from products that are within market research. Ideally, products that are within market research should be submitted first. Once those products are approved, you can submit the remaining products that exceed the market threshold shortly afterward. This approach can help keep the approval process moving efficiently.
Are you Prepared to Utilize the FCP?
As GSA finalizes transitioning contractors away from the legacy Schedule Input Program, completing your FCP onboarding has become increasingly important. In most cases, Contracting Officers and Contract Specialists will not approve product or service additions until your baseline modification to onboard your contract to FCP has been completed.
If you need assistance onboarding your GSA Schedule to FCP and (or) if you have other general questions or concerns about modification submissions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Consulting Team!
