Government Contracting Blog

As a prospective or current GSA contractor, you might have seen the term COTS. What does it mean and why is it an important piece of government contracting? If a government agency wants to buy Commercially available Off the Shelf (COTS) items quickly, efficiently, and at the best value, they often turn to the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program. In this article, we will define COTS, cover how they fit into the MAS program, and discuss regulations on COTS from the Buy America Act (BAA).

Each year, the government awards billions of dollars in federal contracts to businesses to meet the need of government agencies. But how do you get a government contract? If you are considering joining the world of government contracting, there’s a lot of information to know. Sometimes it can be confusing to figure out where to start. At Winvale, we talk a lot about the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program, but government contracting is a wide net. Here are some government contracting 101 basics you should know:

While the federal government goes to great measures to protect sensitive information from cyberattacks and unnecessary leaks, there is a lot more transparency to the public than you may think—if you are willing to ask for it. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you are able to request information from participating government agencies that you would find useful such as business and market revenue projection in terms of government contracting, as well as valuable contacts from an event or webinar you may have attended. FOIA requests can be a useful tool in learning more about government sales. In this blog, we’ll talk about what a FOIA request is and how you can use it to your advantage.

It’s a new calendar year, and although the federal government Fiscal Year 2023 is already in full swing, it’s not too late to start evaluating trends that are predicted for the next several months. A lot of companies see the turn from one year to another as a time to take a deep dive into their commercial finances, strategies, and goals. So why not take a closer look at government contracting trends so you can build a plan for success in the federal marketplace as well? In this blog, we’ll outline 5 trends we expect to see throughout 2023.

As a GSA contractor, you may have spent have spent endless hours in Schedule Input Program (SIP) in an attempt to upload your latest catalog update to GSA. However, after receiving feedback and hearing current contractors’ frustrations with the program, GSA has decided to sunset SIP and introduce the Common Catalog Platform (CCP). The goal of this platform will be to streamline and improve catalog management for both contractors and Contracting Officers. In this blog, we have detailed some aspects of how contractors will be able to utilize the CCP when updating their catalog for GSA, what the Product File is, and how contractors will be provided a Compliance and Pricing report.

While GSA Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) provide contractors with ample opportunities to provide products and services to an array of government buyers, there can also be times a contractor may not able to solely satisfy a buyer’s needs with their offerings. Thankfully, there’s an answer for GSA contractors who want to combine their expertise to create one total solution. In these situations, contractors can enter a GSA Schedule Contractor Team Arrangement (CTA).