Government Contracting Blog

Today marks the first day of the Fiscal Year 2026, and the first day of the government shutdown. When this happens, agencies must rely on contingency or “shutdown” plans to determine which operations continue and which must pause. Shutdowns create delays and uncertainty for government contractors, but not all agencies close their doors completely during this time. For example, the General Services Administration (GSA) is a self-funded agency and largely remains open. In this article, we’ll explore how agencies decide what remains open, which major departments continue operating, and what this means for government contractors.

The government Fiscal Year is coming to a close on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, which means time is not only running out to use up annual federal budgets, but the clock is ticking for Congress to pass a stopgap bill. Right now, both parties are at an impasse, and a shutdown is becoming more possible as the deadline looms.

The last nine months have been a flurry of Executive Orders (EOs), updates, and overall policy changes to the world of federal procurement. Many of these have impacted the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program and will continue to leave an impact on how contractors can do business with the government. We know it’s busy enough juggling your commercial business alongside holding a GSA Schedule, and you can’t always keep up with every change, especially if they are happening in rapid fire.

If you’re a federal contractor, or thinking about becoming one, you’ve probably noticed that the Trump Administration has been busy reshaping how the government buys goods and services. Two major bills, the FoRGED Act and the SPEED Act are a major part of that plan. Both are designed to modernize federal acquisition by removing barriers and make the processes more efficient and flexible. Any time there’s a change like this to procurement, there are going to be impacts both positive and negative. So, you might be wondering what do these acts actually mean for you as a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contractor? Let’s break it down.

Since the federal government is so vast and is comprised of hundreds of agencies, departments, and units--organization is key. This is especially true when it comes to government contracting. One of the ways the government streamlines and standardizes the procurement process is with National Stock Numbers (NSNs).

More changes are coming for GSA Schedule contractors—GSA will introduce a new consolidated Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) clause in Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation Refresh #29. Once added to the solicitation, this clause will replace and eliminate the legacy EPA clauses 552.216-70 and I-FSS-969. With this change, GSA hopes to make price changes more standard across the MAS Program, and give Contracting Officers (COs) as well as contractors more flexibility in GSA Schedule pricing.