Government Contracting Blog

Many government contractors are undoubtedly familiar with SAM.gov (System for Award Management). One of its most important functions is the entity registration process, in which federal contractors are required to be active on SAM and continue to keep company information up-to-date. Due to this, many scammers have targeted companies needing to register or renew their SAM entity. In the blog, we’ll walk through what the contractors must know when utilizing SAM, such as how to register in SAM, what some of the more common scams contractors will run into, and how to stay compliant with changing regulations.

A very common question we receive as GSA consultants from contractors, especially in their first option period of their GSA Schedule, is “Are there any consequences to no or low GSA sales?” Or “What are some good tips or tricks to generate GSA sales and ensure we are remaining complaint with GSA regulations?” In this blog, we will address the current rules in place for minimum sales on the GSA Schedule, potential repercussions or actions GSA may take if these criteria are not met, and best practices to generate or increase GSA sales and remove any concerns regarding our former mentioned points.

Not all offerings under Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) are created equal. Two categories, Highly Configurable Products and the Cloud Special Item Number (SIN) 518210C, have unique reporting rules under TDR. These categories require different reporting elements and approaches. In this blog, we’ll cover what TDR is, define Highly Configurable Products and the Cloud SIN, and explain how to navigate TDR reporting for these categories.

GSA utilizes Special Item Numbers (SINs) to categorize the product or service offerings contractors can have awarded on the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS). Many SINs require contractors’ or offerors’ services to meet specific standards or regulations to have the SIN awarded. A popular SIN that limits the types of services vendors can provide is the Engineering Services SIN or SIN 541330ENG. For example, traditional architect-engineer (A-E) services are not allowed to be sold through this SIN or any other SIN in general. However, the Engineering SIN is not the only SIN that limits engineering firms in their service offerings; the Environmental Consulting Services SIN also requires contractors or offerors looking to add this SIN to meet a few requirements.

In a recent blog, we discussed the many changes introduced by the Trump Administration and what their effect was on current GSA Schedule contractors. If you don’t have a GSA Schedule yet, but are looking to get one, you may be wondering how these changes have impacted the process of acquiring a GSA Schedule contract. That’s why in this blog, we’ll discuss the impact that the new administration’s policies have on potential GSA Schedule contractors.

The GSA Schedule acquisition process is difficult enough as it is—you don’t want to worry about whether you’re doing all this work just to get rejected by GSA. While the process involves a lot of documentation, preparation, and negotiation, it’s not an impossible feat to get your GSA Schedule awarded. However, rejection happens. It usually happens to companies with a lack of knowledge or preparation on the process. Some of our clients have come to us after trying to get a GSA Schedule on their own, or working with a scammy firm and they were rejected and had to start over. So, we put together 5 reasons your GSA Schedule offer could be rejected and how to avoid them.