If you are a company trying to decide if you want to get on a GSA schedule or a Federal contracting professional who uses GSA schedules, you need to be aware there are many changes coming to the program to make it more relevant in today’s fast-paced Federal acquisition world.
The Federal Supply Schedule program (also known as the GSA Schedules Program or the Multiple Award Schedule Program) is directed and managed by General Services Administration (GSA) and provides Federal agencies with a simplified process for obtaining commercial supplies and services at prices associated with volume buying. Indefinite delivery contracts are awarded to provide supplies and services at stated prices for given periods of time. Federal Supply Schedules, which generate tens of billions of dollars’ worth of federal purchases, are going through major revisions.
GSA is reviewing whether the current supply schedules program still makes sense in today’s acquisition landscape when most agencies purchase via bulk-pricing contracts other than GSA (BPAs and strategic sourcing contracts). GSA top executives believe it is time for GSA to look at how the agency uses the schedules program and where it fits in the digital age where customers expect to connect to products and services with the click of a button.
One of the things that GSA has done is create the Common Acquisition Platform (CAP) (http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/106839) that allows customers to search contract vehicles, compare prices, and connect easily with other federal procurement experts.
GSA is also creating contract vehicles that provide more flexibility to contractors and agencies as well as more data on costs, prices, and savings.
These efforts are occurring because Federal Supply Schedule sales continue to slide. Sales on the top 10 supply schedules fell from $22.4B in 2010 to $17.6B in 2013. While that is still a lot of revenue, GSA is concerned about the downward trend continuing.
One potential reform GSA has been discussing would make it easier for contractors to change their prices instead of locked into a specific price. Reducing the pricing rules and streamlining the contracting process could reduce the cost per transaction and boost competition.
Many agencies feel that the price GSA negotiates should be lower. Most government managers look at GSA prices as the “starting point” to negotiate final pricing. That has certainly been my experience when using GSA. Schedule holders may always provide discounted pricing and often do so without anyone even asking. Remember that GSA pricing is based on performance anywhere in the U.S. Therefore, the contractors have to bid based on providing the item/service in the highest potential price area. When you are getting bids from GSA schedule holders, they are aware that their pricing may not be competitive unless they offer a discount.
GSA is pushing to use new tools, techniques and processes to make the solicitation and contracting processes easier, faster, and cheaper.
GSA launched a new tool to make it easier for agencies to figure out hourly rates for various labor categories. The Contract Awarded Labor Category (CALC) (https://calc.gsa.gov/) tool allows COs to conduct market research and price analysis across awarded prices on 48,000 labor categories from more than 5,000 GSA contracts.
GSA has expanded industry outreach efforts to include monthly webinars, interactive posts on their website, and direct conversations with industry organizations and companies to hear and address concerns.
However, with so many options available to federal contracting agencies, there is no longer much to make Federal Supply schedules more attractive than a multitude of other acquisition options. In addition, often those other options (GWACs, MACs, etc.) result in lower pricing for the same items/services.
So I would recommend a “wait and see” posture for any company thinking about getting a GSA schedule right now. If you have not yet started the process, wait a few months before you do. If you have already researched and determined you want to get a GSA schedule, now you are smarter about upcoming changes. It is impossible to predict how GSA will fare in the future, but they are definitely fighting to retain their place in the Federal contracting toolkit.