Selling products and services to the U.S. government means adhering to several established rules and regulations. For potential and current GSA Schedule holders, complying with regulations outlined in the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) is one of the many requirements. While preparing an initial GSA Schedule proposal, most schedule holders become vaguely familiar with required trade laws and regulations. However, after their contract is awarded many make the mistake of not broadening their understanding and fail to regularly monitor their contract to maintain TAA compliant. In this blog, we will define what TAA compliance means and discuss 5 ways to stay TAA compliant.

A GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) provides prospective contractors with unique access government buyers that they wouldn’t have otherwise. A GSA Schedule holder can offer products and services to government agencies such as the Department of Defense, executive and federal agencies, state and local agencies under certain conditions, and countless others. However, the greatest benefit of a GSA Schedule may be the ease that it allows contractors to have when negotiating terms, conditions, and price with potential buyers.

The GSA Schedule is meant to be a living document that changes and grows with your business. Contractors can modify everything from administrative points of contact to product and service pricing, descriptions, and more. Contractors can submit modifications to:

You know what your products and services are, you have an idea where and how you want to market them, but who are your target customers? As public sector consultants, we’re asked this question a lot because a wide array of agencies purchase through the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program and the answer isn't always clear. The GSA MAS program was created for government agencies to have access to around 11 million different products and services at a volume discount, but it’s not open to just any organization. So who can you sell to with a GSA Schedule contract?

After you are awarded your GSA Schedule contract, there are certain requirements you must keep up with including sales reporting, contract, modifications, and meeting a certain minimum revenue. As a small business entering a new marketplace, while it’s all exciting, it may also be concerning or overwhelming for you.

Most government solicitations start off with some form of market research, including, but not limited to, Sources Sought Notices (SSNs), or Requests for Information (RFI), where the government generally will state their requirements and see how industry responds. This allows the government to ‘define’ their requirement, but also determine availability from commercial providers and how the agency can set up competition requirements at the solicitation/Task Order level.