Getting
Second Step GSA Offer Preparations & Submission
GSA Schedules
The General Services Administration (GSA)
GSA Schedules (also referred to as Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) and Federal Supply Schedules) are long-term government-wide contracts with commercial firms providing federal, state, and local government buyers. The General Services Administration (GSA) offers GSA schedules.
The GSA Multiple Award Schedule Program, also referred to as the schedules, is the premier contract vehicle for the federal government. Many federal agencies use GSA contract vehicles to procure goods and services. The Schedule Program is a long term government-wide contract between commercial suppliers and the federal government.
Second Step
Getting GSA Contract
To be considered for a Schedule contract, you’ll need to provide accurate and complete information that describes your company, experience, and commercial products and services. A GSA Offer Package consists of 30-35 documents depending upon the category you apply, some are straightforward documents like proposal price list, summary of offer, commercial sales practices, employee handbook etc.,. There are also many supplemental documents that must be gathered and prepared like tax returns, revenue statement, previous contracts and invoices, etc. Then there are complex documents that take time and experience to prepare, like Technical Proposal write-ups, marketing strategy, business plan. Here are a few details that will give you a snapshot of the preparation process to get a GSA Contract.
Open ratings report
Open ratings report is generated and maintained by Dun&Bradstreet company. This report contains a set of questionnaire that needs to be filled by your customers. When you register for Open ratings report, you need to specify your customers point of contact and they will receive emails from Open ratings directly. Your customers must provide rating about the quality and satisfaction of your work. Ratings are on a scale of 1 to 10. GSA wants to know what your customers have to say about you and in the end a report will be generated outlining topics such as quality, reliability, cost, etc. In most cases, at least at least 5 customers must provide inputs for this report.
Digital certificate
Digital certificates are required for Information security and identity validation. This is to ensure that the authorized person is submitting the offer and modifications. The GSA has mandated that a person from within the company must have a Digital Certificate. This allows access to the GSA’s e-offer system, where modifications to GSA contracts are submitted. Digital certificates are issued by third part vendors like Identrust. You can use a soft digital certificate or a hardware based digital certificate.
Factors/Sections
Assembling your offer for a Schedule contract is a multi-step process that will require work and time. You’ll need to gather and fill out documents about your company’s finances, experience, products and services offered, and your company’s business dealings. The bulk of the work goes into preparing the technical details of your company to the GSA in the way they require.
There are two major components to this process:
- Complete forms GSA provide
- Compile information on your own.
Depending on the GSA Schedule you are submitting for, this is called the “Sections” or the “Factors.” These requirements include details about your company to assure the GSA that you have the capabilities to meet the demands that federal buyers require: financial strength, manpower, internal systems, experience, quality controls, etc.
The Technical Proposal is where contracting a GSA specialist will benefit you the most. The GSA is very critical about Scope, proposal, offer and documents submitted and one small mis-step in the Technical Proposal can unravel the entire GSA offer. There are also some very vague requirements for project details that only a specialist can answer correctly (through trial and error themselves).
GSA Offer Submission
The GSA uses a web based application to receive offers. All documents must be uploaded on their submission system, eOffer. Digital certificate is required to access eOffer. The GSA eOffer allows the user to submit information related to Company , labor categories, technical proposal, terms of conditions, price list, subcontracting plan and more. All information entered must completely match with the information in the document package, or the GSA offer may be rejected.
