A GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract can give your company access to a whole new marketplace. As a GSA Schedule contractor, you can sell to federal agencies, several international entities, and state and local governments under certain programs. While the GSA MAS program provides a multitude of opportunities to companies, it’s not necessarily for everyone. If you are considering whether your company should pursue a prime GSA Schedule, you should first make sure that you can meet all the GSA contractor requirements. We have helped several clients through the requirements stage so we know it can seem overwhelming at first, but don’t worry, we will walk you through what you need to know before you get a GSA contract.

When a GSA contractor hears the terms CAV or Contractor Assessment Visit, it might be easy for them to panic. The idea of being evaluated by GSA may sound intimidating, but if you understand how these visits work and take the time to prepare, you won’t have to worry about your performance. While a CAV might be a sporadic occurrence, it helps to be aware of the expectations and maintain compliance for the life of your GSA Schedule contract. In this blog, we’ll review what you need to know about Contractor Assessment Visits, so you feel confident about them.

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.

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.

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.