The General Services Administration (GSA) is responsible for writing contracts for commercial items that can be used by all federal government agencies, and, in some cases, local and state governments.
Under the GSA Schedules Program, also known as Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) or Federal Supply Schedules (FSS), GSA establishes a pre-negotiated price (through approved purchasing lists or approved catalogs) and ordering procedures. Having such a contract allows the government to place delivery orders for your products and/or task orders for your services without having to go through the normally lengthy federal acquisition process.
Because GSA has already determined the prices for each contract to be fair and reasonable, individual acquisitions handled under GSA contracts do not have to be advertised at www.fbo.gov. Note that each FSS contract has a five year period with three five-year options which means that its maximum length is 20 years. If you sell commercial items, you may want to consider seeking a GSA/FSS contract which would make it easier to sell your products and services to the government.
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