Have you made the most of the first quarter?

You’ve finished your warm ups and the National Anthem has been played, its game time. The first quarter is when you need to set the stage for the rest of the game. How is the next three quarters going to work out, do you know when you need to put your bench players in? Have you planned out what your attack strategy is? You want to know as much about the game that is being played and your opponent as possible.  

Unlike a basketball game when there are off days and an off season we don’t have that luxury so we use our first quarter for planning and answering as many questions as we can. Although there are a lot of variables that go into government purchasing being prepared as you can makes all the difference in the world. If you have not started planning it’s not too late.

You can start by answering the following questions:

• ·         What agencies purchase what you sell?
• ·         Who are your top competitors and what types of contracts do they hold?
• ·         What opportunities are being forecasted in your industry?

Those three questions will take some work to find the answer to but they will give you a good picture of your season and allows you to formulate your attack plan. 

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!"

― Benjamin Franklin

Congrats to Stormpulse!

A big congratulations to Stormpulse, Inc (dba Riskpulse) on their recent Schedule 70 GSA contract! Stormpulse specializes in elite weather tracking, risk management software architect, and information technology solutions.  Stormpulse’s innovative risk management software can rapidly assess risk and create a common operating picture of whatever needs to be tracked.

With this new contract vehicle, Stormpulse can further increase their penetration of the government market and work more closely with current clients and contacts.  The wrong call made by the government in a risky situation can lead to devastating circumstances- both in human lives and fiscally. Stormpulse can help with long-range planning and daily decision making by providing real time information to help with decision making processes.

We are very excited to have worked with Stormpulse on putting their GSA offer together and are looking forward to our continual collaboration. As they roll out new services and configurations for their amazing software, GCS will be supporting them along the way.

Feel free to check out their website: www.riskpulse.com

-Sonya Nudel

GSA Offer Best Practices, Volume 3

Let’s talk Government. They’re in a league of their own, right? It’s true! They have their own way of organizing things, classifying things, and interpreting things. To sell to the Government you have to understand how they operate. It’s very different from dealing with other commercial entities.

Now, let’s relate this to GSA Schedules. To make your offer successful you have to know what Schedule and Special Item Numbers are applicable to your business. The “scope” of your products and services is one of the most important things the GSA will look into when you submit your offer. If the offer is out of scope you’ll be rejected right away – they won’t even look at the rest of the content. Do yourself a favor and look into all the potential Schedules your business may fall under. Then select which one is the best fit.

Here’s an example. You offer instructor led-training and your courses are designed to teach the average employee how to engineer and operate a Smart Building System. You have a few options here:

1. Instructor Led Training (Schedule 874)
2. Engineering and Integration (Schedule 871)
3. Smart Building Operations (Schedule 03 FAC)

We will start by breaking down each schedule and seeing what the services really entail. Instructor Led Training doesn’t include any training that can be offered under the scope of any other Schedule. So, if there is training available under other Schedules that is more relevant to what you’re actually teaching – then you can’t use Schedule 874. Schedule 871 doesn’t quite fit because you’re not really doing the engineering work, just training on that. Schedule 03 FAC allows for training in direct relation to what you’re teaching. Schedule 03 FAC it is!

As a reminder – don’t just take the descriptions of the Schedules at face value. Look at your competitors and research what they’re offering under Schedule. Don’t have specific competitors to look for? Performing market research on the different vendors awarded under each Schedule will benefit you tremendously.

When in doubt – give me a call!

Stephanie Gowin

GSA Offer Best Practices, Volume 1

Understanding the daunting regulations and written requirements of composing a GSA offer can be hard enough. What’s worse is there’s no consistency in the GSA’s review process. Try as they may to create an efficient approach to reviewing an offer, the GSA has actually done the opposite. 

Once submitted, your offer is assigned to a Contracting Officer for a detailed review. Among other things, they look into:

·         -Company history

·         -Technical experience

·         -Pricing structure

·         -Financial background

Every Contracting Officer has their own approach for the review. This makes it difficult for people like you to recognize the difference between the requirements and the Contracting Officer’s preference. As a vendor, you can do your part to streamline the offer process.

Submitting a clean offer can make a huge impact on your review timeline. Ensuring the documents you submit are formatted and named properly is a great place to start. The Contracting Officers won’t spend much time trying to figure out your documents – so do them a favor and clarify! Title every document and name the files accordingly.

Another way to streamline the GSA’s review is to keep it simple. Don’t give them too much information! You’re only causing yourself more headaches in the long run. The GSA wants to see that you know how to read. Keep the offer to what’s requested and nothing more.

Most importantly, make sure that you know the regulations of the offer prior to submitting. The GSA will ask you questions. They’ll expect prompt and detailed responses. Give them what they want and you’re on track to the GSA Contract number. 

Look for Volume 2 in March!

-Stephanie Gowin

For more information on GSA Schedule or assistance with your offer give us a call. 216-662-7044