Managing a GSA Schedule contract is not an easy task. There are many moving parts, which require organization, knowledge, and upkeep. Part of maintaining your GSA Schedule is making sure your contract is updated through various compliance requirements. In this blog we have outlined the top 10 most forgotten updates that contractors miss when managing their GSA Schedule contract.
Companies are required to keep an up-to-date Systems for Award Management (SAM) registration in order to have a GSA contract. This registration lasts for only a year and companies often forget to renew their registration in time.
To make sure your SAM registration is up-to-date, you can go to the portal on sam.gov and see when your registration ends. We suggest if your company has a lot of changes to monitor and update this site at least twice a year instead of annually. Be careful if any company reaches out to you regarding your SAM.gov registration—SAM.gov is free to use and update. There have been many companies trying to scam contractors into paying for a “registration service fee” while pretending to be affiliated with SAM.gov.
Whenever a company needs to modify their GSA contract, whether it's change of address, adding a new product, or updating pricing, they must submit a formal modification via eMod for approval. When the modification is awarded, the company must perform a Schedule Input Program (SIP) upload, unless they are using the FAS Common Catalog Platform (FCP), which GSA is slowly rolling out to contractors.
This upload updates your company’s GSA Advantage! profile. Most companies often forget to ensure their modification changes reflect their GSA Advantage! and GSA eLibrary profiles, leaving them with an inaccurate and outdated information, which could hurt their sales.
You can have your GSA Schedule for up to 20 years, but the contract is broken down into 4, 5-year periods. This means, every 5 years you will need to complete an option extension if you want to continue your contract. Your contract will not automatically be renewed, rather you need to submit a letter with your intention to renew and address you are meeting all the applicable compliance requirements and if there are any changes to your terms and conditions. GSA will conduct a contract review to ensure your contract is following all the requirements. While GSA will remind you it's time to start preparing for an option extension, many contractors wait until the last minute and are scrambling to gather all the necessary evidence.
GSA performs updates to the MAS Solicitation every time there is a significant change. These are called mass modifications. Companies frequently neglect these mass modifications, leaving their contracts outdated.
For every mass modification, you must go to the Mass Mod Portal and accept it in order to keep the Terms and Conditions and the requirements of your GSA contract up-to-date. Even if it seems like the Solicitation Refresh doesn't apply to you, it must be done by all contractors. Contractors should also note that the Mass Mod portal has switched over to a Multi-Factor Authentication log in, so make sure your GSA FAS ID is current.
The pricelist shown on your GSA Advantage! profile is the most essential part of your contract. Due to this, failure to keep this up-to-date could significantly reduce your revenue in the federal marketplace. Therefore, your GSA pricelist should be updated, at least, on an annual basis if not a semi-annual basis. You can update your GSA pricelist by submitting a modification to the eMod system to make any necessary changes.
One of the requirements in maintaining your GSA contract is your quarterly sales reporting. This report is submitted through the FAS Sales Reporting Portal (FAS SRP) in order to have a record for every contractor’s sales. Often times, companies forget to submit their quarterly sales reporting under Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) or their monthly reporting under Transactional Data Reporting (TDR), which can be detrimental to keeping their GSA contract.
More times than not, vendors fail to remember to list their GSA contract number on GSA sales quotes. Listing your GSA contract number on all GSA sales quotes is required because it allows the purchaser to be able to reference your contract to make sure they are getting the correct price.
Also required on your invoices is a statement referencing your Prompt Payment Discount for companies who pay the invoice before the net 30 days. If your company fails to do this, it can result in overcharging and if the purchaser recognizes this mistake, can force you to go back through your records and reimburse them for the losses they endured. This is why it is crucial to list your Prompt Payment Discount on your invoices so you can keep your customers well informed.
Commercial Sales Practices (if you opt into them over TDR) are crucial to maintain when you have a GSA contract. This is how the GSA determines the price you are able to offer them. Once the GSA price is agreed upon, you are required to maintain the discount margin. If a company fails to maintain this discount margin between their CSP’s and their GSA sales practices, it could result in their contract being revoked.
Contractor Assessment Visits (CAVs) happen at the mid-point of your 5-year GSA contract period and about 7-12 months before your contract expires. Many contractors view them as audits, but they exist to help make sure companies have efficient internal controls in place to maintain compliance.
The best way to prepare is to prepare all the documentation your Industrial Operation Analyst (IOA) requests, and make sure you are abiding by all the compliance requirements for your GSA Schedule. A few years ago, GSA released the Contractor Assessment Reference Guide to help you prep and know what to expect on your next visit.
GSA compliance can be a lot of work, but it’s important to keep your contract current and accurate to make the best use of it. If you want to learn more about ways to keep your contract maintained properly, check out our blogs, “How to Maintain Your GSA Schedule Contract: An Essential Checklist” and “Top 9 Compliance Risks that can Affect Your GSA Schedule.”