The NCMBC has developed the following checklist to help you determine whether your firm should spend the time and effort to pursue a GSA/FSS contract:
- Does your firm sell commercial items?
- Has your firm been in business for at least 2, preferably 3 years?
- Does your firm have a record of sales of commercial items of at least $100,000?
- Can you list at least 6 customers that have purchased products or services from your firm? (Note that 15-20 businesses are preferred, these must be commercial, not government customers, and they will be asked to rate the performance of your firm.)
- Can you show that the federal government buys a substantial amount of your products/services each year? (Note that GSA will not award a contract unless your anticipated sales under the contract are expected to exceed $25,000 within the first 24 months following contract award, and are expected to exceed $25,000 in sales each 12-month period thereafter. The government may cancel the contract if these sales goals are not met.)
- Are you prepared to deliver your products/services to any destination in the US within at least the 48 contiguous states? (You may choose either this option or worldwide delivery.)
- Do your competitors have a GSA contract under which they are making significant sales?
- Can you afford to invest in the federal sales program that it will take to close deals under GSA Schedules?
If you answered “yes” to all of the above questions, a GSA contract may be worth pursuing!
Here is what GSA recommends:
Identify your competitors.
Visit the Schedules e-Library website at www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov and the GSA Advantage website at www.gsaadvantage.gov. These websites contain information regarding the
products and services that current [Multiple Award Schedule] MAS contractors already offer. This will aid you in identifying potential competitors under the MAS Program and help you to further assess your ability to compete for orders, if your company is awarded a MAS
contract.
You should look at such key information as your competitors' pricing, delivery time, warranty terms, services, and other conditions. Think about how you will be prepared to meet or beat such terms. In addition, you should examine other factors that purchasers under the MAS Program may consider when awarding an order such as your company's past performance and expertise in providing the products and/or services that your company is seeking to offer. Often, purchasers under the MAS Program make their award decision based upon "best value" as opposed to lowest price technically acceptable, so you need to assess your ability to compete for orders under all possible award evaluation criteria.
Then, visit our Schedule Sales Query website at http://ssq.gsa.gov/ that provides detailed sales information on current MAS contractors. Specifically, you can search to see whether your competitors have successfully sold similar products and/or services under the MAS Program.
Your review and analysis of these websites should allow you to assess the competitive environment for the products and/or services you want to provide. Once you understand the terms you will have to follow and the market you will operate in, you can decide whether a MAS contract is the right investment for your company to make.
If, after considering all of the above, you determine that it does not make sense to pursue your own MAS contract, you may want to consider approaching a firm who already has a contract about adding your products and/or services to their contract. In that case, use the resources above to identify a firm who might be willing to partner with you, and approach them directly.
Click here to return to the NCMBC GSA/FSS Contract home page.
Click the following link to advance to the next topic "How can you get started in the pursuit of a GSA/FSS contract?"
