For any contractor interested in selling its’ products on a GSA Schedule, it is pertinent that you become familiar with, as well as compliant with the Trade Agreement Act (TAA). The TAA outlines where products the government purchases can be manufactured. As GSA Schedule solicitations contain TAA provisions, when applying for a GSA Schedule, your product’s Country of Origin (COO) must be included in the proposal, compliant with the TAA, and accurate. Determining a product’s COO can be complicated. While products that are wholly made in one country are simple to designate a COO for, most products contain numerous parts made in various countries. In these cases, the product’s COO is classified by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.225-5 as “the country in which the product has been substantially transformed into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from that of the articles from which it was transformed”. Once a product’s COO has been determined, verify it is TAA compliant.

The Obama Administration has made a continued effort to in-source work performed for the Federal Government. The thought behind this is that government contractors are more expensive than federal employees. In an effort to increase efficiency, the Obama administration has suggested that agencies in the Federal Government in-source some of the work that has historically been done by contractors. With the start of in-sourcing, there grows a demand for greater workforce management. Agencies need to pay closer attention to the efficiencies within their workforce and make sure the job is done quickly and properly.

There are many requirements when submitting for a GSA Schedule. Of these requirements, one of the most important is the completion of the Past Performance Evaluation (PPE). The PPE is a report generated by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) c/o Open Ratings and is used by the GSA to assess a company’s history in successfully providing their products and services to customers. The report is valid for one year and is required for every GSA Schedule Solicitation. As the GSA will be evaluating how these references rank your past job performance, it is imperative that you select references that will give the highest scores possible. While you will be able to see overall scores, individual responses will be kept anonymous. It is recommended that you contact your references prior to submitting their contact information. You should inform them that you are pursuing a GSA Schedule, and you would appreciate it if they would be reference. The survey will be sent via email from Open Ratings, and will be available for them to complete for three weeks, after which Open Ratings will then call them to complete the survey over the phone. While it is recommended that you list as many references as possible, only four need to respond for a report to generate. The survey questions are:

You may know that GSA has recently converted to using the E-Mod and E-Offer system for virtually all contract modifications and submissions. The one action that cannot be done through the eMod system is the contract extension, which occurs every five years. But not for long! GSA recently announced that they will begin using eMod for Extensions.

Many of my clients, who have a GSA Schedule but are new to the government market, ask me about government invoicing and payment schedules – for obvious reasons. In the commercial market, a seller will identify their invoice schedule and the buyer will normally oblige. However in the government market, they don’t pay for something until they receive it. Specifically, 31 U.S.C. 3324 says: “(a) Except as provided in this section, a payment under a contract to provide a service or deliver an article for the United States Government may not be more than the value of the service already provided or the article already delivered.” Furthermore, the Prompt Payment Act at 31 U.S.C. 3903 says: “(1) (B) provide that the required payment date is 30 days after a proper invoice for the amount due is received if a specific payment date is not established by contract”. So for all government contractors, after you understand that the government doesn’t pay for something until they receive it (there are a few exceptions) and their payment terms are Net 30 Days, you should also understand when you can invoice and when those 30 days start.

As a consultant to companies applying for a GSA Schedule contract, we work closely with our clients to gather the information that I know the solicitation (and contracting officers) requires. When we start talking about financial statements, a few of my clients ask me “what if we’ve operated in the red last year?” Knowing my client’s strengths are equally important as knowing any weakness, so we can prepare for and address issues beforehand. Demonstrating financial viability can certainly be a challenge. Every company submitting a new Offer under a GSA Schedule will have to, and I’ll quote the Solicitation, “Provide a copy of offeror's most current, complete, audited (if available) two years of financial statements (at a minimum, balance sheets and income statements). GSA uses balance sheet and income statement information to determine financial responsibility. Provide an explanation for any negative financial information disclosed, including negative equity or income. You may be required to provide letters of credit or other documentation to demonstrate that adequate financial resources are available.”