The federal government offers a lot of support for small businesses looking to enter the public sector. This includes small businesses owned by women, economically disadvantaged businesses, and veteran-owned businesses. Here at Winvale, we have several clients who are Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs), and that’s why we want to acknowledge resources available to these businesses as they navigate the federal marketplace. The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) are among several federal administrations that promote veteran entrepreneurship, and it’s important you take advantage of these resources if you are a veteran business and a GSA Schedule contractor.

This blog was last updated on November 4, 2021. The White House COVID-19 Response Team recently announced that millions of federal contractors and subcontractors must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4, 2022, unless they are granted a legal exemption. This order mandates both in-person and remote federal contractors, as well as employees who are working under a covered contract to get vaccinated. So, which contracts are considered “covered” under this order and what other COVID-19 protocols will contractors have to follow to remain compliant? Let’s break down the order:

The Vendor Support Center (VSC) has long been regarded as a library full of useful information for prospective and current contractors. Whether you are looking to get a GSA Schedule and you want to do research on the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program, or if you need help uploading your catalog files to GSA Advantage!, and want to learn more about marketing your Schedule, the VSC has a plethora of government contracting resources. But as you might have experienced with government sites, they can often be outdated and a little difficult to navigate.

On August 31, 2021, GSA proposed a rule to help GSA Schedule contractors perform on Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) orders beyond their contract term. This proposed rule would amend the GSA Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to include an internal GSA policy of extending FSS orders for 5 years beyond the terms of an FSS contract. As a reminder, the GSA Schedule is also referred to as the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) and the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), so this order directly affects GSA contractors.

You may have done your research on what a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract is, looked at the benefits and requirements, and decided you want to pursue it–but now what? One glance at the list of everything you need to submit your proposal, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Although the guide is there to help you, there’s a lot of paperwork required to create a successful GSA Schedule proposal (also known as offer), and you might have some hesitation about where to start. In this blog, we’ll help you navigate all the trainings, documents, and materials you need to start drafting your GSA Schedule offer in 5 steps.

We live in the digital era and as we have seen with the pandemic, more and more aspects of life are becoming digitized. This does not exclude our federal entities, so it’s imperative that our federal government is protected from the threats that come with the digital age. As a result, GSA created a HACS (Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services) SIN which is dedicated to preventing leaks and cyberattacks. Before an entity can obtain a HACS SIN, they must show that they are qualified to provide thorough and extensive cybersecurity. A main part of the qualification for the HACS SIN is determined by an Assessment Evaluation and Standardization (AES) High Value Asset (HVA) assessment. Let’s dive into the HVA assessment and what it entails.