An essential aspect of your GSA Schedule is maintenance and compliance. One of the more critical compliance requirements for GSA contractors is submitting sales in the Federal Acquisition Service Sales Reporting Portal, also known as the FAS SRP. The FAS SRP supports data collection required by FAS procurement programs, including Multiple Award Schedules and other Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACS).
Currently, the FAS SRP houses about 15,000 active MAS contracts, making it an essential system for GSA Schedule contractors to understand how to use. Here's what you need to know about the program.
The FAS Sales Reporting Portal (SRP) provides a safe, secure, and user-friendly portal for contractors to report both transactional and aggregate-level data, as well as multiple payment options for remitting the fee required in their GSA Schedule contract. This portal allows for complete transparency between contractors and the government.
Let’s first talk about how you can get into the portal. To access the FAS SRP, contractors must be listed as a Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) Point of Contact (POC), an administrative representative, or an authorized negotiator. Contractors must also register to gain access to FAS SRP with a valid GSA FAS ID. The GSA FAS ID is a multi-factor, secure identity management system contractors can access with one email and password.
You must access the system at least once every 90 days to prevent your account from being suspended.
You can enter the SRP by clicking the "Contractor Login," entering your credentials and validating your entry with the code sent to you by either phone or email.
Once you are on the landing page, you will see a list of all contracts associated with your e-mail address. Your landing page will give essential details on the status of your reporting, including:
Reporting Frequency: "Monthly" for TDR/"Quarterly" for IFF and Commercial Sales Practices (CSP).
Last Reported: The last date you submitted reporting for that line item.
Report Period Ending: Reporting period that is due.
Total Outstanding Balance: If you have entered your sales data and have yet to pay the IFF, there will be an outstanding balance noted in red.
There are many standard FAS SRP login problems contractors face. One is that they try to login first without being registered. To fix this, you must first register to gain access to FAS SRP.
If you are locked out of your account, and your password doesn't work, you must have been registered but had not logged into the system for 90 days, so your account may have been deleted. It is important to note that FAS SRP has stopped suspending accounts, and to fix this issue of account deletion, you must re-register.
If you forget your password, you should scroll to the bottom of the login page and click on “need help signing in.” This will produce a forgot/reset password button.
Contractors' registrations can also fail, this happens when the contractor's email address is not listed in at least one of the contract fields. These fields are Contract Administrator, IFF POC, or Authorized Negotiator; to fix this, contact your GSA Contracting Officer for Assistance. For more severe problems, contact the GSA Vendor Support Helpdesk via phone at (877) 495-4849 or via email at vendor.support@gsa.gov
Now that you are registered and all set up in the system, let’s discuss recording GSA Schedule sales. When you are ready to enter your sales into FAS SRP, use the "Reporting" tab drop-down on the left-hand side of the main page and then select "Form Entry." Here, you will enter your quarterly totals for each SIN on your contract.
Even if you report $0 in sales for that specific quarter, you will still be required to enter that field as $0.00. While completing the sales reports, you can click "save" anytime to maintain your progress. Similarly, once you have finished entering your sales reports, you can officially submit your data by clicking "submit."
If you prefer not to enter your sales manually, you do have the option to upload a file containing your sales reports. To do this, use the Reporting Tab drop-down and select "File Upload."
Every month or each quarter, depending on whether you are using Commercial Sales Practices or Transactional Data Reporting (TDR), you will go into this portal and record your sales. If you are opted into Commercial Sales Practices, then you will need to report your sales quarterly on January 30, April 30, July 30, and October 30. If you are opted into TDR, you will need to report monthly. Each reporting method requires different pieces of information, so you should be sure to review the instructions thoroughly. If you aren't sure which reporting method to choose or which one you are subject to, check out our blog, "Commercial Sales Practices vs. Transactional Data Reporting."
One of the ideal features of the FAS SRP program is that it allows contractors to enter their sales reports and make Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) payments on the same site (we'll go into further detail on the IFF below).
The Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) is an integral part of GSA. Since GSA is one of the few self-funded agencies of the U.S. federal government, it doesn't use American tax dollars to keep it running. Instead, it is powered by the IFF. In addition to reporting GSA sales, GSA Schedule contractors must also pay their IFF Fee each quarter.
As a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract holder, you will have 30 days from the close of a quarter to remit the IFF payment. For instance, sales reports and the accompanying IFF payment from the quarter of January-March will be due on April 30.
The IFF is 0.75% of a contractor's quarterly sales reporting totals. For instance, if a contractor is reporting $1,000 in quarterly sales, their corresponding IFF payment would be $7.50.
You should only report sales for products and services through your GSA Schedule contract. You can only pay the IFF once your sales are reported, so make sure to have them in on time so you turn your IFF payment in on time.
There are four main ways to submit your IFF to pay.gov. Before entering the different options, you should access the pay.gov link through the FAS SRP portal. If you type the web address into your search bar, it won't have all your information, and the government will have to track you down to figure out where to put your payment.
Here are the main ways to submit an IFF payment:
There are two other options available to pay your IFF fee without using pay.gov. You can use Remittance Express (REX), which functions like a bill pay system and has no limit. Or, you can go old school and pay with a check. GSA highly suggests using this method only as a last resort. It requires additional work for the Contractor and government, and if the contract number needs to be written on the check, it can significantly delay the processing time or funnel the money into the wrong place.
To make a payment on the FAS SRP site, contractors must select the "Payment" drop-down tab in the left-side column. After selecting "Make Payments," contractors will be taken to a page where they will choose their preferred payment method. After making a payment, they will generally take 24-48 hours to post.
Having a general understanding of the FAS SRP will go a long way in improving your comfort with filing your sales reports. Although sales reporting is an essential step in keeping up with your GSA Schedule, there are other requirements you need to follow to maintain your contract correctly.
For more information regarding GSA compliance and maintenance, check out our blogs "Top 9 Compliance Risks that Can Affect Your GSA Schedule" and "How to Maintain Your GSA Schedule: An Essential Checklist." Many of our clients discover they don't have the capacity or experience to maintain their Schedule on their own, so they choose to hire a consultant to help with GSA Schedule maintenance.
If you have any more questions about the FAS SRP or if you need help keeping up with your contract, reach out to one of our consultants.