GSA has been marketing its GSA Schedules program to state and local governments for several years now and continues to see increased usage by the SLED market (State, Local, Educational).

GSA Contractors are receiving notices about recent changes to their CCR record that necessitates a novation.  These messages are in error and are a system glitch that GSA is aware of, so you can ignore if you received such an email and have not actually made any changes.

Government Contracting Remains Strong per New Study

The Annual Clarity Government Contractor Study being released this week reveals several interesting fact.  This study discusses 2012 results and 2013 expectations. Some of the interesting findings include:

Buy low, sell high.

So you are thinking about getting a GSA contract for your firm, but which schedule do your products or services fall under?  The GSA Schedules program covers millions of products and services so it’s no wonder you may be confused.  We’ve produced a mindmap infographic that depicts the list of GSA schedules visually.  It partitions the schedules into some logical groupings:

In previous articles, I have talked about all the valuable information you can obtain by using the USASpending.gov database.  This free database houses substantial information about government spending of all types – contracts, grants, entitlements, and you can parse this data in any number of ways.  I often use it to research my clients’ competitors to see how much and to whom they are selling.

Why do you want to obtain a GSA contract?  That is one of the first questions we ask prospective clients when they call inquiring about our GSA schedule services. Some demonstrate they have performed considerable research, really thought this through, and are well informed.

In recent years, we have also heard from firms who had never sold in the federal market but had received cold calls from a huckster promising that simply getting a GSA contract would yield millions of dollars in contracts!  We quickly dispel them of the notion that while it can be lucrative, it is not a guarantee.  We also talk about whether entering the federal market makes sense for them, and all the other government contracting options available to them in addition to GSA.  More recently, firms have expressed concerns about protecting their ongoing business in a constricted federal market.

Changes Likely to Affect your MOBIS contract

Several MOBIS SINs Being Merged

In January 2013, GSA will significantly redefine several Schedule 874 MOBIS SINS, including:

I recently asked government contracting officers what they would ask Santa for, if indeed there was a Santa just for government contracting officers.  In particular, I wondered what would be on their wish list of improved business practices from you, their government vendors?  I also asked them what you could do better to improve agency/vendor relationships and the value you deliver?