Details about GSA Contract Acquisition
A GSA schedule contract is an official dollar contract but it is not funded and it does not have products or services to issue immediately. Funding occurs when an order is signed by a dollar agency. There are sixty two categories of commercial products and services that vendors may devote for a GSA contract under. Known as schedules, these categories cover everything from industrial products, vehicles, computers and desk products, to most categories of expert services.
A GSA schedule is a five-year contract listing the prices the federal dominion has agreed to pay for a vendor’s commercial products and services. The contract may be renewed for three five-year periods resulting in a twenty year contract if all renewals are executed. To be an approved supplier under a GSA schedule, the vendor must go through an arduous application process. Negotiating dispassionate and reasonable prices for the products or services to be delivered is the most determining aspect of application process. If a contract is successfully negotiated, the vendor is placed on a list of approved suppliers for that particular schedule. Buyers for federal agencies can point using GSA Advantage, the online marketplace for GSA schedule product/services.
Today, GSA schedules are the favored purchasing mechanism for most federal buyers and an goal sales and closing vehicle for contractors. Large federal contractors can have GSA schedule sales exceeding $100 million annually. A order under a schedule is a request for products and/or services. Approved vendors under a GSA schedule use the prices listed in their GSA contract to price orders received from federal agencies.
Competition for an individual GSA order is reduced significantly because the prices contained in a schedule are pre-determined at the time of contract award. However, lead sales efforts are usually required to drum up an order. GSA vendors should not expect sales under the contract without focused, agency-based sales efforts.
Generally, dollar buyers submit requests to three vendors on a schedule and select the winning vendor based on best value considerations. An approved point stands as a contract between the purchasing agency and schedule vendor, not between the vendor and GSA. However, it must conform to all the terms and conditions of the vendor’s GSA schedule contract. Price increases based on commercial cost increases or economic indices can be negotiated under GSA schedule contracts. Vendors may offer discounts for an individual agency point defenseless affecting the prices listed in the contract. Congress has granted property and local agencies the authority to purchase straight from the Information Technology GSA schedule (IT70). State and local purchasing authority may be extended to other GSA schedules in the future.
Administrative costs for providing products or services under schedules are significantly lower than the costs of dealing with individual contracts. The use of the GSA schedule system as a quick, efficient buying mechanism is steadily increasing.
GSA Schedule Services has over 5 years of experience in GSA Contract Services and federal proposal writing. Any business with a GSA Schedule has a great advantage when bidding on a federal project. GSA Contract Services can acquire a GSA Contract for a company in under 3 months.