With government spending on a steady incline year over year, increasing your company’s footprint in the public sector with a GSA Schedule and other government contracts can help to grow your business’ revenue—but how do you actually invoice and receive payment from these agencies? In the private sector, it can be relatively straightforward in most cases, where the seller will specify the invoicing and payment schedule, and the buyer will (normally) oblige the established schedule for payment. However, in the government market, payment functions differently. Government buyers will reserve payment for something until it’s received.

One of the requirements GSA Schedule contractors tend to worry about the most is the minimum sales requirement. Under this requirement, contractors must generate $25,000 in sales within the first 2 years, and $25,000 every year thereafter. This can seem like an intimidating number, especially for some smaller businesses that aren’t used to reporting $1 million in commercial sales each quarter. So, what can you do to stay on top of this and successfully meet the minimum sales requirement? One thing to do is study spending trends and identify the top government customers. Which government agency is spending the most through government contracts, and what are they spending it on? Here’s what you need to know.

It often comes as a surprise to many contractors that they can leverage their GSA Schedule contracts to sell to state and local governments. Contractors are not limited to using their Schedule to sell only to federal buyers. As a consultant, I come across clients who are constantly looking for ways to expand their customer base. Many are unaware that GSA also supports the procurement needs of state and local governments through various programs, especially during this time with recent natural disasters and the global pandemic. This blog will cover a few emerging opportunities that contractors can take advantage of and use to sell to state and local governments.

If you’re a new GSA contractor or new to reporting your GSA sales, you may be wondering what TDR is, and how it can fit into your contract. Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) is a GSA Schedule pilot program for reporting sales that was first rolled out in 2016. TDR is a way for GSA and its partner agencies to collect transaction-level data on solutions purchased through the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program. Ultimately, the purpose is to equip the government’s acquisition workforce with the information needed to make data-driven decisions that save taxpayer dollars. TDR also allows contractors to opt out of Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) and reporting, which could be a benefit for your company.

Successfully qualifying government opportunities for your organizations pipeline is a vital step in becoming a successful government contractor. Like many things in life, the qualification stage in the government contracting process requires due diligence on your part to ensure that you can meet all of the stated requirements.

Once you are awarded a GSA Schedule contract, you are granted access to many platforms and resources to assist in growing your company’s presence in the public sector. As a GSA Schedule contractor, websites like SAM.gov, GSA Advantage!, GSA eLibrary, and more become important assets for success in the federal market. The issue is contractors and government buyers aren’t the only ones that see these resources as valuable. While these sites are crucial for contractors, it also makes their company highly visible with non-confidential information such as email address, numbers, address, and therefore susceptible to a cybersecurity breach.