Many contractors enter the GSA Schedule process tantalized by the prospect of growing their business in the federal marketplace and pursue their contract with all burners blazin’. Of course, after a grueling submission and review process, most are just relieved to have gotten through the system, happy they are now finally able to set out on their new road to riches. The trouble is that most contractors aren’t fully aware of what they have gotten themselves into.
Compliance with your GSA Schedule contract doesn’t end once you have met all of the proposal requirements of the solicitation; in fact, it’s just beginning. The documentation and registration hoops you jumped through in the preparation of your submission continue, and are added to the instant your contract becomes active. From SAM to eVerify to VETS100 to sales tracking and reporting, there are a number of additional responsibilities you assumed when you became a GSA contractor. Most of these are buried deep in the solicitation you read through all those many months ago making sure you were ready to prime this contract, but that’s not something you want to do again, so where do you start?
If you haven’t yet spent any time exploring the Vendor Support Center (www.vsc.gsa.gov), you may not be aware that GSA has information specifically designed for the new Contractor available free of charge, 24/7. Specifically, The Steps to Success: Contractor Reference Guide under the Publications menu and the New Contractor Orientation training on the Education Tab are intended give you the information you need to remain compliant and successfully manage your GSA contract moving forward. Each covers the myriad of contract requirements and proper utilization of your GSA contract so that you, too, can be a quality GSA contractor.
But even with these tools at your disposal, relating them to your own real world situation may prove to be a challenge. Personal instruction and guidance can help you to avoid the ramifications that a lack of understanding these contractual obligations can bring.
In addition to its other GSA services, Global Services offers quarterly Post Award Training in an effort to help new GSA contractors, as well as new hires and those just in need of a refresher course. This training establishes a greater understanding of how these requirements affect can affect your company and how, with a little preparation, staying compliant can ease your way on a road to success. Our next class is scheduled for June 12th here in our DC office. You can find more information here: https://globalservicesinc.com/registration