As the end of summer fast approaches, the September buying season in the federal government will soon be amongst us. Over the next few weeks, government contractors will be busy during the month of September responding to RFPs and RFQs in order to secure the final dollars appropriated for Fiscal Year 2005. Vendors should use the month of August to work closely with their federal government clients to ensure that they have appropriately marketed their services/products in such a way, that the government will seriously consider those services/products when determine final spending decisions. This is also the perfect time to ensure that you have proposal services lined up to respond to each of the bids that you are tracking.
MORE NEWS ON THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION SERVICE(FAS)
As we discussed in the last issue, the General Services Administration has restructured the Federal Technology Services andthe Federal Supply Service to create the new entity called the Federal Acquisition Service. More recently, the agency named Barbara L. Shelton as the new Acting Commissioner for FAS. GSA indicates that the new restructuring initiative will create a GSA organization that is “capable of delivering excellent acquisition services efficiently and effectively while providing better value to federal customers and the American taxpayer.” The new organization will maintain 5 divisions, including:
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Customer Accounts and Research
- Acquisition Management
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Integrated Technology Services
- General Supplies and Services
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Travel, Motor Vehicles and Card Services
For more information: https://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentId=19104&contentType=GSA_BASIC
CLIENT CORNER : QUESTIONS FROM OUR CLIENTS
Our monthly feature that allows you to see examples of the kinds of
questions we get from our clients and how we respond to their needs.
Q:I have heard a lot of information about the GSA restructuring and want to know how this will affect my company and our decision whether to get on the GSA Schedule. We are a small business with limited resources to invest pursuing procurement vehicles such as the GSA. We would like to know whether it is a worthwhile investment to outsource a GSA Schedule to a company like Global Services if the need for and benefits of holding the GSA Schedule are going to change, and no one has really been able to predict how. Should we still look towards obtaining the GSA?
A: That is a really good question, and a lot of businesses we have spoken with have raised this concern. The newly announced merger of the Federal Supply Service with the Federal Technology Services to create the new Federal Acquisition Service has resulted in a lot of uncertainty among government contractors.
To answer your question, yes, you still should pursue obtaining the GSA Schedule if it is right for your company’s solutions and required by your government clients. GSA reorganization discussions have been going on for over a year, and even once a definitive plan is mapped out for the restructured GSA, full implementation of the new GSA structure could take many years. It is also possible that the requirements and established process to obtain a Schedule could also be altered/made more stringent or complicated. Obtaining a GSA Schedule now might in fact be the best time to do so.
The federal government procured $31 billion in products and services through the GSA Schedule in FY 2004 alone; any changes to the Schedule’s importance could take years to be realized, and considering how much money is invested in GSA procurements right now, obtaining this 20-year procurement vehicle remains necessary for many companies to do business with the federal government.
Getting a Schedule now assures you that your company will be evaluated according to the current standards for GSA Schedule holders. Global Services has obtained over 400 GSA Schedules with a 100% success rate under these guidelines, and can tell you which Schedule is best for your business.
Elizabeth Murray is available at 202.234.8933 to help determine whether the GSA Schedule is right for your company and how Global Services can be of assistance.