October is not only the beginning of the government Fiscal Year, but it’s also a sales and subcontracting reporting month for GSA contract holders. Sales are due 30 days after each quarter, so this year it's October 30th, which falls on a Monday. We recommend submitting your reports by Friday, October 27th to give you ample time in case any issues arise. Depending on whether you’ve opted for Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) or Transactional Data Reporting (TDR), your reporting requirements will differ. For CSP, you will need to report sales and pay the Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) quarterly. Therefore, you’ll need to report GSA sales between the dates July 1st- September 30th. For TDR, sales are reported monthly, so you’ll only report September sales. Whether you decide to pay your IFF fee monthly is up to you, but it’s required to pay them at least quarterly.
As mentioned above, it’s also subcontracting plan reporting month. Subcontracting reporting is only a requirement for “Other than Small Businesses.” If you’re an Other than Small Business, then your contract is subject to a Commercial or Individual Subcontracting Plan. A Commercial Subcontracting Plan covers the entire fiscal year, so if this applies to you, you’ll have to submit a Summary Subcontracting Report (SSR) for the period of October 1, 2022- September 30, 2023. On the other hand, contractors with an Individual Subcontracting Plan are required to submit both an SSR and an Individual Subcontracting Report (ISR), this report covers the second period of the fiscal year, April 1- September 30, again also due on October 30th. To learn more about subcontracting plans and how to meet your goals, check out our blog.
Couldn't make it to last month's webinar? Watch it here on demand. In this webinar, we'll help you learn how to take advantage of GSA resources and tools so you can identify relevant contract opportunities and create successful government sales strategies.
At Winvale, our business is our people. Winvale is more than just a consultancy—we are dedicated to professional development, community involvement, and creating a cohesive company culture. Curious to see what we're all about? Check out our culture video to get a closer look into daily lives at Winvale.
The GSA Office of Small Business Utilization is hosting this webinar for all small businesses looking for additional information and guidance on GSA and our opportunities. 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. Register for the event here.
Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) holders are invited to join this session to learn more about the Sales Reporting Portal (SRP). The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) SRP supports the collection of data required by FAS procurement programs, including MAS. During this session you will learn about the importance of reporting in SRP and get an overview of using the system. Register for the event here.
Once your GSA Schedule contract is awarded, contractors take a huge step in expanding their potential customer base in the federal marketplace. However, there are multiple steps and best practices contractors should continue to put into practice throughout the life of their GSA Schedule to ensure they are as successful as possible. One of these steps is GSA contract maintenance. GSA Schedule contractors need to work to ensure they are practicing compliancy with all GSA Schedule requirements.
This webinar will help you learn how to maintain your GSA Schedule and offer guidance for getting the most out of what the GSA Schedule has to offer. We'll discuss:
On October 1, 2024, the federal government entered Fiscal Year 2024—are you ready for the new year? While you may still be trying to get your bearings straight after the craziness of Q4, it’s important you are starting to think ahead for the next year. Below are some tips to help you prepare your GSA Schedule:
Evaluate recent GSA updates and take action: The latest Solicitation Refresh was released in July, have you taken the time to review the changes and accept the Mass Modification? You should also be checking GSA interact for any relevant announcements and changes.
Take a Closer Look at the Budget for Next Year: Make sure you have done a deep dive into your target agencies’ budgets. Are there new initiatives or increased budgets? Maybe there’s a decreased budget and you should start looking for new target agency. The goal here is to stay in the know on agency spending.
Start engaging with agency stakeholders: Start the conversations and networking now—get involved in market research, make connections, and start to communicate with the Contracting Officers (COs). This will all come in handy when Q4 comes back around and agencies will be releasing major solicitations.
Prepare your GSA Schedule: When you start going after new opportunities this year, you’ll want to make sure your pricelist/textfile and your GSA eLibrary/GSA Advantage! listings are all up to date. Modifications can take awhile to be completed, so start now.
QUICK TIPS
Enrolling in Disaster State and Local Programs
In times of crisis, the government must stay vigilant and efficient in its role, as well as have plans and reserves ready to best support its citizens. As a result, the government has developed a few programs that help agencies get quick access to the products and supplies they need during times of disaster and crisis. We'll summarize a few below:
The Disaster Recovery Purchasing Program focuses on the products and services involved in disaster recovery, terrorism, or nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attacks. Subjects of interest include products and services related to cleaning, power, housing, emergency training, trash, and construction.
The Public Health Emergencies Program covers situations in which either a disease or disorder has reached emergency status or an outbreak of disease or a bioterrorism attack requires major government support.
The 1122 Program has a more specific focus on assisting state and local governments in their emergency response, counter-drug, and homeland security activities.
If your products or services may fall under these categories, we highly suggest taking advantage of these programs as a way of accessing additional opportunities while greatly supporting the government's recovery programs. You can learn more in our blog here.
EMERGING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Elevator Maintenance and Repair
This contract is to provide monthly maintenance for 6 elevators. The government is contemplating a single award of an indefinite delivery/requirements type contract with firm fixed unit prices resulting from this solicitation. The resulting contract will include a base year period from the Effective Date of Award (EDOA) through 12 months from the EDOA, four (4) possible 12-month option periods for renewal at the unilateral discretion of the Government. This opportunity is listed under NAICS Code 238290 - Other Building Equipment Contractors. Responses are due by October 13, 2023. More information can be found under Notice ID: 15BFA023Q00000092.
Upgrade Fire Alarm Systems
The Amarillo Veterans Health Care System, Network Contracting Office (NCO17), anticipates awarding a Firm-Fixed-Price construction contract to Upgrade Fire Alarm Systems throughout the campus at the Amarillo Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The project includes but is not limited to the following: The contractor shall completely prepare site for construction operations. Contractor shall provide all labor, materials, equipment, and supervision to upgrade fire alarm system, fire alarm initiating devices, fire system monitoring devices, fire/smoke compartment controls, fire suppression controls, notification devices, and emergency elevator controls to current standards. The applicable NAICS Code is 238220, Commercial and Institutional Building Construction. Responses are due by October 27, 2023. More information can be found under Notice ID 36C25723B0059.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: How are NAICS Codes useful in determining your business size?
A: NAICS Codes are useful in relation to your GSA Schedule as they will determine whether or not you qualify for any small business set-asides and programs. Many contracting opportunities are set aside for small, disadvantaged businesses like woman-owned, veteran-owned, HUBZone, and other entities that qualify for these designations by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Your NAICS Code will determine if your business can be considered a small business based on your number of employees for annual revenue thresholds. These are known as size standards and can be found both on the SBA website and in GSA's solicitation guidance.
Q: Will business size determination be based on the number of employees or annual revenue?
A: The SBA, and GSA by proxy, make size determinations based on revenue and retained employee thresholds. It may not always be immediately clear under which threshold your business will be evaluated, but a quick solution is the SBA's website and its user-friendly tool to make that determination for you. However, in general, in practice, many businesses which provide a service or produce sales will be measured under the revenue threshold, while businesses such as manufacturers and producers of goods will be measured under the number of employees threshold. The SBA periodically updates these standards for determining business size so it’s important to confirm your business size often, and especially when certifying this data to the GSA.
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