Details about the Benefits of Acquiring a GSA Contract

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 apply for a GSA contract under. Known as schedules, these categories cover everything from industrial products, vehicles, computers and office products, to most categories of expert services. Much Like other search engine marketing, acquiring a GSA Contract requires commitment and investment.

A GSA schedule is a five-year contract listing the prices the federal government has agreed to compensate 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 important feature of application process. If a contract is successfully negotiated, the vendor is placed on a list of approved suppliers for that distinctive schedule. Buyers for federal agencies can order using GSA Advantage, the online marketplace for GSA schedule product and services.

Today, GSA schedules are the favored purchasing mechanism for most dollar buyers and an ideal sales and closing vehicle for vendors. 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 cost orders received from dollar 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, federal buyers submit requests to three vendors on a schedule and select the winning vendor based on best value considerations. An approved order 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 GSA contract. Price increases based on commercial cost increases or economic indices can be negotiated under GSA schedule contracts. Vendors may bid 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.