Last month, the General Services Administration held a webinar, “Keeping Your IT Schedule 70 Compliant,” that gave some great pointers to GSA Schedule holders. Although the webinar was geared towards Schedule 70, James Pope, Industrial Operations Analyst for GSA, gave some great pointers about what to expect during a Contractor Assistance Visit. Regardless of which GSA Schedule you hold, you most likely will have a Contractor Assistance Visit (CAV), so here are some helpful hints when this time comes.

In the General Services Administration’s latest newsletter, released on Monday, September 8, 2014, they outlined new changes in regards to the information Industrial Operations Analysts (IOAs) will be looking for during Contractor Assistance Visits (CAVs). The updates will only impact contractors with Professional Services Labor Categories currently awarded on their GSA Schedules. Every awarded labor category is required to have an experience description outlined in their contract.

There was a significant development in TAA compliance for federal resellers, when a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed a False Claims Act suit filed against contractors for reselling Chinese-made (non-TAA compliance) technology products to the U.S. government. In case number 13-7049, Govplace, Inc. and Government Acquisitions Inc. were accused of engaging in fraudulent behavior because they relied on their product supplier’s (Ingram Micro, Inc.) certification, which stated that the technology products supplied were from a TAA compliant country.

If you’ve updated your SAM.gov registration recently, you may have seen a new ownership page. A final rule recently amended the Federal Acquisition Regulations to require all SAM registrants, if owned by another entity, to identify that entity by name, CAGE code, and type of ownership. This rule will provide government insight into 1) Federal spending patterns across corporations, 2) Traceability in tracking performance issues across corporations, 3) Contractor personnel outside the United States, and 4) Supply chain traceability and integrity efforts. As the final rule noted, “Increased transparency and accuracy of procurement data broaden the Government's ability to implement fraud detection technologies restricting opportunities for mitigating occurrences of fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.” Ownership is defined as a “Highest-level Owner” and “Immediate Owner”. Ownership is defined as an Entity having ownership or control. And an “Entity” is defined as an Individual, Partnership, Corporation, Joint Venturer, or an Agent. To help respond correctly to this new requirement, we’ve outlined the ownership definitions below.

Many GSA Schedule Holders and prospective government contractors believe that selling to the government is a simple task. Hold on there - selling to the US government, the largest buyer in the world, is no easy task. Organizations need to market toward the government through an extensive and developed strategy. This requires organizations to do their homework about Business to Government (B2G) marketing.

In a recent interview with the General Services Administration (GSA) Inspector General (IG), Brian Miller, several questions in regards to the subject of voluntary disclosures leading to suspension or debarment were asked.