GSA Letter of Supply

If your firm wants to obtain a GSA contract but does not manufacture the products it sells, then a letter of supply is needed. GSA sometimes also refers to this as a Letter of Supply (LOS), or occasionally a Letter of Commitment.  This requirement is noted in Clause I-FSS-644 – Dealers and Suppliers of the Solicitation.  

A GSA Letter of Supply serves this purpose:

• Confirms that the manufacturer gives your firm explicit permission to list its products on the vendors GSA contract.commits your supplier to provide the vendor (you) with sufficient quantities of the product
• Confirms that the products supplied to you are TAA compliant
• Assures that price increases or decreases will be submitted to the vendor on a timely basis.

If you are is a dealer or reseller of a product, you must ask your supplier/manufacturer for a Letter of Supply for each brand offered. 

This letter must be

• printed on the manufacturer’s original letterhead,
• with an original signature from an officer of the company (CEO, President, Vice President) . 

The solicitation contains a Letter of Supply template.  

GSA Letter of Supply Template

Sample Letter of Supply 

This image is an example of a GSA Letter of Supply / Letter of Commitment

What should be in a Letter of Supply?

Click here to see the Letter of Supply text.

Is a GSA Letter of Supply Mandatory?

This is a common question, and quite often, if you asked a GSA contracting officer, they would answer yes. Less experienced COs would almost certainly respond yes.

Also, GSA solicitations state that a GSA LOS is mandatory.  The MAS solicitation's general proposal instructions state that GSA may reject offers that do not include a letter of supply if the firm is not the manufacturer.

A LOS is NOT Mandatory

But GSA's actual policy is quite the opposite. A Contracting Officer is required only to determine if your firm has a sufficient source of supply.  GSA's policy is that a LOS is not needed so long as other evidence is submitted that substantiates the vendor has an acceptable source of supply.  

At the 2012 GSA Expo, Mark Lee, Policy Chief, Office of Acquisition Management in the GSA Federal Acquisition, made this point quite clear, as shown in the following brief video clip.  The Office of Acquisition Management is responsible for establishing the standards and framework for managing the acquisition workforce under policy established by the GSA Chief Acquisition Officer. The Office of Acquisition Management leads, supports, and facilitates the review of Federal Acquisition Service programs and procedures.

 Go to the 3-minute mark for the LOS Q&A:

When all is said an done, you should get an acceptable letter of supply because fighting this battle simply isn't worth it. You can win a battle but lose the war!