If you have ever tried to sell to the federal government, then you have come across SAM.gov. The System for Award Management (SAM, SAM.gov) is the official website for people who make, receive, and manage federal awards. GSA teamed up and integrated with partner sites to curate a powerful tool to register, report, search opportunities, and sector data. On SAM.gov, you can search contract opportunities and entity registration, access data reports, check assistance listings, and connect with resources to help your business of any size succeed.

As a GSA contractor, you have several tools and sites available to help you acquire and manage your GSA Schedule, but some of them may be difficult to navigate. The Schedule Input Program (SIP) is universally known as a program that is simultaneously crucial and frustrating for GSA contractors. Contractors must use SIP to upload important contract data, but not without effort. As part of GSA’s project to enhance and modernize the acquisition process, they have been developing the Common Catalog Platform (CCP) which will replace SIP, the Contracting Officer Reporting System (CORS), and the current Price Proposal Template (PPT).

While it’s important to make sure you are prepared to pursue a GSA Schedule contract, it’s also important to ensure it’s the right fit for your company. When deciding whether your company is eligible to get a GSA contract, you should make sure you can compete in the federal marketplace. When compiling your GSA Schedule offer, you will need to adjust your commercial market rates to be determined “fair and reasonable”, while also making sure there is a market for your offering. A good way to determine this before going through the entire offer process is by completing GSA’s Readiness Assessment, identifying the scope of your offering, and researching your competitors.

There are multiple facets to obtaining and understanding a GSA Schedule contract. One of the most important prerequisites to acquiring a GSA Schedule is having a set North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code, which corresponds to the core of your business. Your NAICS Code relates to the products and/or services you hope to be offering in the federal marketplace and serves as an important identifier for business size and relevant contracting opportunities. So, what are these numbers? How does their format play a role in your GSA contract? Throughout the course of this post, I’ll be going over what NAICS Codes are, their role in GSA, and their structure.

The global economy has taken a hit recently—from disrupted supply chains to an ongoing pandemic, and now the current conflict in Ukraine, there have been severe supply shortages and a sharp increase in prices. This inflation has caused a significant increase in the number of Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) modifications among GSA contractors. However, even with raising their prices, some contractors have not been able to heighten them enough keep up with inflation due to GSA pricing regulations. Recognizing this critical issue, GSA’s Senior Procurement Executive, Jeff Koses, and Assistant Commissioner for FAS Office of Policy and Compliance, Mark Lee, jointly issued a GSA acquisition letter placing a temporary moratorium on a number of limitations in certain GSA EPA clauses.

Another Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation Refresh is on the horizon—on March 31, 2022, GSA plans to release the MAS Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001 - Refresh # 10 to all existing GSA contracts. Once the Refresh is issued, GSA will release an accompanying Mass Modification (Mass Mod) which must be accepted by all contractors within 90 days. It’s important you are aware of all the changes in the Refresh, even if it may seem like they won’t greatly affect your GSA contract. We’ll break down everything you need to know about this Solicitation Refresh, so you are prepared to accept the Mass Mod.