We think of the General Services Administration (GSA) as a federal agency that assists in acquisition and real estate, but did you know GSA also plays a large role in the presidential transition? In the ten weeks from election to inauguration, the president-elect will prepare to take over the executive branch including over 140 agencies, sub-agencies, and millions of personnel.

Every four years, as U.S. citizens, we elect a new President, Vice President, and an assortment of Congressional Representatives and Senators. Throughout the campaign trail, one of the most important, if not the top issue at hand will be government spending and budget. As taxpayers, it’s natural for us to want some insight and agency over how the government spends money and what initiatives they have on the horizon.

While the federal government goes to great lengths to protect sensitive information from cyberattacks and unwanted leaks, you may be surprised to know that most government information is public – if you’re willing to ask for it. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you can request records or information from participating government agencies that may be useful to you. For example, as a government contractor, you can request lists of valuable industry contacts from an event or webinar you attended, or lists of bidders on government contracts. In this blog, we’ll talk about what a FOIA request is, how you can use it to your advantage as a government contractor, and the process for submitting one.

If you’ve been following the CMMC journey since 2019, you’ll see that we’re one inch closer to seeing Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 requirements in defense contracts. If you haven’t, no worries, we’ll fill you in on what you need to know. Recently, the Department of Defense (DoD) released a draft rule that would implement CMMC into the acquisition process for defense contracts. Let’s talk about what this means for the future of CMMC and what the next steps are.

With a GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), you can access a wide network of federal, state, and local agencies looking to procure products and services. One misconception contractors have, however, is they can sit back and watch the orders roll in the minute their contract is awarded. This isn't true for the commercial world, and generally isn't true for the public sector either. While you are part of a unique pool of contractors, you still have to compete with other companies for business, and be proactive about advertising your solutions to government agencies.

The General Services Administration (GSA) celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. You may have heard of GSA and may even be quite familiar with the federal contracting side of it considering you’ve arrived here at this blog. GSA has come a long way from their origin stockpiling strategic supplies for wartime to maintaining the most popular government contract vehicle: the government-wide Multiple Award Schedule. In this blog we’ll go over the history of GSA, how its functions have evolved over time, and what its current initiatives are.