One of the first hurdles for GSA Schedule contractors to tackle is the minimum sales clause. This is a clause that states that, in the first two years of holding a GSA Schedule Contract, vendors must generate $25,000, and continue to generate $25,000 every year thereafter. Whether you are trying to meet the minimum sales clause or just trying to grow your government sales footprint, one of the best methods is to look to the past. Federal agencies’ past spending can be a helpful indication of where they will most likely allocate procurement dollars in the future. The chart below shows a list of the Top 10 Federal Agencies who spent the highest amount of procurement dollars through the GSA Schedule program from Fiscal Year 2011 to date.

On November 5, 2014, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a lawsuit against Verification Co, Inc. for allegedly making false claims to prospective customers. Federal Verification Co., Inc., which does business under the name GSA Applications, allegedly told small businesses that it was with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) or falsely identified itself as affiliated with the government agency. For a $10,000 upfront fee, GSA Applications they promised the business owners a 20-year GSA contract within three to six months.

The GSA sends out GSA Schedule cancelations every day, but not all companies get their GSA Schedule contract canceled. What did they do differently? And, more importantly, what should you do to grow your government sales in the future?

After months of speculation GSA announced on Friday that a new single Professional Services Schedule is in the works and unfortunately, this is not going to pretty for some! The new GSA “Consolidated GSA Schedule” will be called The Professional Services Multiple Award Schedule or “PSS” for short. Although the exact migration process has not been announced by GSA and future application details are still yet to be hashed out, the GSA expects to complete the consolidation of current applicable Schedules by December 2015. Starting with GSA’s goals, here is what you need to know.

If you are an IT government contractor – this is for you! Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) are required to be FedRAMP certified by June 2014. Current deployments of cloud-based services in use by Federal agencies must be compliant with FedRAMP guidelines by June 2014. Commercial providers that offered cloud-based services to the Federal government or in the acquisition process prior to June 5, 2012, must have a FedRAMP P-ATO. Government agencies have to move one system to a cloud provider within 12 months of project start, and two more systems within 18 months of launch, by the end of 2015.

Expiring government contracts are a great way for government contractors to compete for government business. These are viable opportunities that are currently being funded. When reviewing an expiring contract, make sure to review and understand six specific contract areas: