A growing number of agencies no longer believe prices under the General Services Administration schedules program are "fair and reasonable."

Along with the Defense Department, NASA quietly issued a memo in March that requires its contracting officers to do additional research to ensure GSA schedule prices are the best value for the government. Industry sources say other agency memos could follow from the likes of the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Energy.

GSA Schedules are long-term government-wide contracts that establish set prices and terms for supplies and services.  Because ordering from these established contracts saves government agencies administrative time and money, preference is often given to vendors on a GSA Schedule.

If you are debating on whether or not your company should invest the time and resources in having your company included on a GSA Schedule, consider the following Pros and Cons:

Pros: 
•    A less selective competitive pool (as you will only be bidding against other companies that are already on the GSA Schedule)
•    Access to Request for Proposals and Request for Quotations that are not normally published on FedBizOpps.gov
•    Know who exactly who your competition is
•    An excellent marketing tool for your company—Government Agencies like it that your company has already been pre-vetted by the GSA Schedule selection process!

Cons:
•    Inclusion into the schedule could be a time and resource consuming process
•    The requirements for a GSA Schedule contract award are stringent: you need to demonstrate a history of financial stability, a strong past performance experience, and the capability to meet the service/product requirements
•    The GSA requires prospective vendors to: possess up to date CCR and ORCA records, as well as complete a Readiness Assessment, a Pathway to Success certification, and comply with wage determination labor standards… what does all of this mean?

GovPartners has a 100% success rate in obtaining GSA Schedule contract awards for eligible companies.  We make the process as easy as possible for our clients, providing all of the necessary services for our clients, from the cradle to the grave.  This includes things such as submitting our client’s Open Ratings Reports in the beginning to negotiating acceptable discount terms with the GSA prior to a contract award.

To find out more about our GSA Schedule submission services, click here.

The General Services Administration is considering splitting a small-business contract that brought in $250 million so far but they are trying to figure out what the follow-on contracts should look like, according to a new announcement.

The first GSA IT Infrastructure Technology Global Operations (GITGO) contract was awarded to Catapult Technology in 2007, and the contract ends in April 2012. With that deadline, GSA anticipates awarding the follow-on task orders during the second quarter of fiscal 2012, according to a request for information released June 24. Read the notice.

The GITGO contract has netted $250 million in revenue for Catapult, according to data from Deltek Input.

The scope of the coming requests for proposal would establish efficient managed support of GSA’s IT infrastructure services. At this point though, GSA wants ideas from industry on how to set up orders to match those needs.

GSA plans two separate acquisitions. The task order to get the necessary capability is called GSA Technical Operations, and the order to help manage the global effort is the GSA Independent Program Oversight and Assistance task order.  Read full article

There is a new Mobile Gov IT App. Designed by Winvale, this app has the latest Government IT news, CIO blogs, FY2011 IT budget forecasts and GSA’s IT Schedule 70 information. This FREE App is the first of its kind for Government Technology. Download it at the Apple’s App Store.