You might have heard the term “DFARS” come up a lot recently, especially with the federal government's initiatives to heighten cybersecurity and defense measures. But what is DFARS and how does it relate to GSA contractors? You’ll find it’s a very important set of regulations for you to follow and understand. DFARS stands for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. It’s managed by the Department of Defense (DoD) to supplement the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The defense supplement was launched to as a government effort to guard national security concerns from cybersecurity attacks.

So you have been following a pending government solicitation for months (maybe years), you have met with the customer and completed a solution demo, you have attended all the industry days, formed your team, followed the capture processes and best practices, and your team is ready for the solicitation to come out (or potentially the draft solicitation). You get the notification that it has been posted, you download it, open it up and start reading. Three pages in you’ll see statement like the one below:

Pulling together a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) proposal can be a lot of work. If you’ve been following our blog, you may have a good understanding of the overall process as we’ve discussed the process from start to finish on previous posts. You do your research, pull together the administrative, technical, and pricing sections, then you’re done, right? Maybe not. Working with our clients, we know that a lot of people have problems finishing their GSA proposal and bringing it across the finish line to contract award. Let’s dive in and see how to dot your I’s and cross your T’s and get that GSA Schedule proposal to award.

As a result of social media, the traditional news cycle has accelerated, and now many people receive most, if not all, their news from the major social media networks. This dramatic shift in consumption has increased both the speed and accessibility of information, and now anyone with an internet connection has the ability to either knowingly or unknowingly spread a false narrative. As a result, misinformation, as well as disinformation, have become more prevalent.

Just like with commercial transactions, pricing is an important part of your GSA Schedule contract. Government agencies often prefer to purchase from GSA Schedules because they know they are getting their products and services at the best value and prices. This means that GSA contractors have to follow specific pricing rules and requirements, like reporting your Commercial Sales Practices.

The new SAM.gov is here—on May 24, 2021, beta.SAM.gov and SAM.gov merged and became one website. The System for Award Management, or SAM, is now the official site for people who make, receive, and manage federal awards. Earlier this year, GSA launched a new design for beta.SAM, which was planned to ease contractors into the new SAM.gov interface. There were several changes to the look and feel of the site, but the functionality remained the same. Now, both the design and the functionality has changed.