One last Refresh to close out the calendar year--GSA plans to release Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation Refresh #23 in December. There's a lot of updates squeezed into this Refresh, so let's cover some of the highlights:
Couldn't make it to last month's webinar? Watch it here on demand. This webinar with McCarter & English evaluates the business side of pricing federal contracts, highlights some best practices, and reviews some important legal and regulatory issues.
Winvale won the 2024 HIRE Vets Gold Medallion Award from the U.S. Department of Labor for demonstrating outstanding efforts in recruiting, employing, and retaining our nation's veterans. The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is the only federal award recognizing achievements in veteran employment and recruitment. Visit HIREVets.gov for more information
GSA offers a suite of integrated eTools to make the acquisition process more efficient for small businesses. These complimentary eTools, GSA Advantage!, GSA eBuy, GSA eLibrary, GSA Acquisition Gateway and others, help you quickly and easily perform market research, respond to requests for quotes, and more.
Join this webinar for an introduction to GSA’s eTools and methods for your business.
The webinar will include an overview of the GSA Multiple Award Schedule Program, Public Buildings Service, Federal Acquisition Service, Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts, the Forecast of Contracting Opportunities, the Small Business Administration’s Subcontracting Network (SubNet), Section 889 guidance, and more.
GSA OSDBU will host a webinar on how to use the Forecast Tool to discover planned procurements. This session will discuss tool features and how to take advantage of the information in the tool to assist you in navigating the federal marketplace. This webinar is great for small businesses.
CRITICAL INFORMATION
"Rule of Two" Expansion Could Impact the Small Business Landscape
The Small Business Administration (SBA) released a proposed rule recently that could greatly impact small businesses. The proposed rule would expand the “Rule of Two” to apply to orders under Multiple Award Contracts. Currently, the rule mandates that agencies conduct market research before a procurement and if there is evidence that two or small businesses will be able to submit competitive offers, then the procurement opportunity must be set-aside.
The proposed rule aims to expand the “Rule of Two” to all procurements including Multiple Award Contracts (with exceptions of course). So, if a Contracting Officer (CO) determines there is a reasonable expectation of receiving offers (that are competitive in price, quality, and delivery) from two or more small business contract holders under Multiple Award Contract, then it needs to be set-aside. The proposed rule would not affect existing task and delivery orders. To learn more about this rule, exceptions to the rule, and what it means for contractors, you can check out our recent blog.
QUICK TIP
Updated MAS CTA Guidance
GSA has released updated guidance on MAS Contractor Team Arrangements (CTAs). GSA has clarified guidelines on several common sources of confusion for contractors, including how the two types of CTAs are defined, the roles within CTAs, CPARS reporting for MAS CTA agreements, and eligibility rules for small business set asides. GSA also released a sample CTA agreement template with minimum recorded elements. This document and the updated guidance can be found on GSA’s webpage.
Top NAICS in 2024
Although the federal government Fiscal Year (FY) ended a few months ago, now that the calendar year is closing, a lot of companies spend this time analyzing their annual sales and planning for next year. One popular topic we revisit every year is the top North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes. NAICS Codes represent industries in the U.S. economy, so it’s a great way to look at what were the most popular products/services purchased through the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS). Here are the top 10 NAICS Codes for FY 2024:
Compared to last year, NAICS 511210 Software Publishers jumped from 4th place to 1st. There was about a $270 million drop in spending for Other Computer Related Services this year, while Software Publishers grew about $1.6 billion. Now that you have an idea of the top NAICS Codes, you can see where your company fits into the picture. Of course if you don’t see your offerings up here, this doesn’t mean you won’t be successful in the government market. The federal government buys all kinds of products and services and will always have a need for a wide range of solutions. For more information on the top NAICS Codes, check out our blog.
EMERGING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
CIGIE Vendor Day – Employee Engagement, Change Management, Transformational, Strategic, and Innovative Thinking and/or Behavioral Training Services Vendors
The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) Employee Engagement and Innovation Committee (EEIC) has released a Request for Information (RFI) under NAICS Code 611430 to gather interested vendor responses on specific professional development trainings, such as employee engagement, change management, transformational, strategic, and innovative thinking and/or behavioral training services, that they can provide to federal Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs). CIGIE intends to hold two Vendor Day events on February 27, 2025 and March 6, 2025 to address these potential training services. Responses are due by 5:00pm EST on January 7, 2025. More information can be found under Notice ID: RFI_CIGIE-25-R-001.
Detector, Radio Frequency
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Aviation has issued a pre-solicitation under product service code 5895 (Miscellaneous Communication Equipment) for radio frequency detectors with the National Stock Number (NSN) 5895-00-408-3791. This indefinite quantity contract is a total small business set-aside and includes a five-year base period with no option periods. The solicitation is expected to be released on January 6, 2025 and the place of performance is in Richmond, Virginia. More information can be found under Notice ID: SPE4A7-25-R-0202
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: How can NAICS Codes help me identify contracting opportunities?
A: Simply put, NAICS Codes help you narrow down the vast list of contracting opportunities to only opportunities that are relevant to your business. When using a large procurement database such as SAM.gov, you don’t want to spend hours combing through thousands of opportunities that have nothing to do with your business—but a keyword search may not cut it. For instance, if you search for “IT Services”, you may miss out on an opportunity simply because the procurement officer used “Information Technology” instead of “IT.” NAICS Codes provide a clear, standardized method for categorizing contracting opportunities.
Q: Where can I search for contracting opportunities using NAICS Codes?
A: SAM.gov is an excellent resource for searching for contracting opportunities, and it's easy to use. Simply select “Contract Opportunities” on the home page, then click “Advanced Search.” In the search panel on the left-hand side, select "Product or Service Information,” then enter your NAICS Codes in the appropriate box. You may want to use other filters such as dates, notice type, and keywords to help narrow your search results even further.
Q: How else can I use NAICS Codes to my advantage?
A: NAICS Codes can also be used to identify your competitors, analyze market trends, and research relevant statistics. You can use websites like SAM.gov and USAspending.gov to find information about your competitors, and to perform market research using NAICS Codes.
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