GSA, The Worlds Biggest Customer

The GSA Federal Supply Service awards over $5 billion dollars annually for goods and services under the GSA contract schedules program; possibly the largest contracting activity in the United States. The GSA is accountable to the American taxpayers and to federal agencies to take full advantage of the Government's size and spending volume to acquire the best deal for the taxpayers dollars.

The Office of U.S. General Accounting has recommended that "the price analysis GSA does to establish the Government's Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) negotiation objective should start with the best discount given to any of the vendor's customers." The General Services Administration was founded with the goal to acquire products and services at best price based on its evaluation of discounts, terms, conditions, and concessions offered to commercial customers.

GSA Contract holders often wonder the means of facilitating the processing of their contract offers under the legislated price analysis. There are many factors involved, but all things being equal, an initial offer requires less review and analysis and is therefore more likely to be finalized rapidly. This policy could easily be interpreted as saying: "Cave in and give the government Most Favored Customer pricing even though it is not profitable because you will get your schedule faster."

A GSA Contract holding company is the primary source, by law, for federal purchases. There are always products and services bought outside of GSA contract holders, but there must be a very good reason for a contracting officer to purchase open market. They are heavily incentivised to work within the GSA Contracted company pool.

GSA Contracting officers, federal purchasers and vendors find them very quick and easy to use. The GSA contract holding companies are all in a database and so are their prices. If you were a contracting officer, wouldn't you rather use information available to you rather than starting from scratch? This is one of the largest incentives for a business to seek their GSA Contract.

Working with a GSA Schedule contractor is preferred when a purchase exceeds $25,000, otherwise a lengthy and expensive public bid process will be used by a procurement officer. The bid process is usually only used if there are no qualified GSA Contract holding businesses for their specific project. Many companies that offer their products or services to the federal government are requested by contracting officers to obtain a GSA Schedule contract to do business with their agency. The use of GSA contracts, with pre-approved price lists, is growing in popularity. So, if your company is planning to break into the largest market in the world, the first step is acquiring a GSA Contract.