General Services Administration (GSA) schedules are an easy and effective way for customers and vendors to handle federal government contracting. This program helps provide savings, flexibility, shorter lead times, transparency and a host of other benefits. GSA schedule management is a vital component to any successful government sales strategy. Here are our top 10 things to think about before, during and after embarking on the process:

In June 2013, media stories emerged about how senior officials at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) pressured subordinate contracting officers to award and extend large federal contracts despite unfavorable terms and inflated pricing. A report by the Office of Inspector General showed that large technology contractors such as Deloitte LLP, Carahsoft Technology Corp. and Oracle Corp., representing more than $900 million in U.S. government spending in fiscal year 2011, had indeed received favorable treatment by GSA managers.

As a government contract holder, you need to understand that business won’t just fall into your lap - you must be proactive. But how can you be proactive, if you don’t know where to start?

The GSA Multiple Awards Schedule Program’s Professional Services Schedule (PSS) Migration, has been somewhat of a distant mirage over the last year. Since January, multiple stories and webinars have been released discussing the upcoming collapse of eight GSA schedule contracts into one. While some components of the PSS Migration have moved forward, in large part the migration has only resulted in pushing back deadlines. It appears however, that the GSA is finally ready to move forward.

The two most common procurement platforms for small and emerging government contractors to find and compete for business are FedBizOpps and GSA eBuy. However, if you are relying solely on these two avenues you are missing the vast majority of the federal procurement picture.

In March 2015, the GSA announced that it would be launching a pilot program that would require contractors to report transactional data for all of their federal sales. The program has been proposed and marketed as an alternative to the infamous Price Reduction Clause (PRC), but when the new program is examined closely, several new issues emerge that could prove to be more burdensome and costly than the dreaded PRC.