Professional Services Schedule

Our industry has been hearing about the elusive Professional Services Schedule for years. Well after countless push backs and mysteries it is finally here.

Although the time has come and gone for submitting your migration request of June 1st, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. This is what we know:

• If you have more than one of the following schedules then you should have submitted your migration request: 520, 871, 874, 874 V, 738 II, or 899.
• Once the migration is complete you will have 1 GSA Contract with a brand new Contract number and term. Which means that you will only have to worry about the $25,000 minimum sales requirement for one Schedule. 
• The GSA has promised that all migrations that were submitted by the June 1st deadline will be completed before October 1st.
• If you did not submit your migration request by June 1st you need to contact your contracting officer and explain your situation ASAP!
• GSA has stated that contractors who have not done so are not guaranteed migration by Oct 1st and after Oct 1st they will be canceling one of those contractors multiple schedule. Of which you have no choice and it will be done at random.
• For new contractors going under any of those schedule you will directed to submit a 00 Corp.
• However, you will be at the back of the line waiting for the GSA to complete all of the migrations first. 

For as long as the GSA has been discussing this we know very little. We do not have any inkling how the GSA will handle those contractors who only have 1 of the included schedules.

For the time being, if you have not submitted your migration please please please contact your contracting officer. If the GSA decides to enlighten us with additional information the GCS team will be sure to share it. 

8a stars

Among the many different contract vehicles the government offers for purchasing a variety of products and service, 8(a) STARS II is a small business dream- for information technology firms. This Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) provides a large and diverse pool IT contractors for the government to award direct task orders for up to $4 million dollars. Imagine, shortening or even avoiding the bidding and proposal process all together.

Contractors must fall under the one or more of the following functional areas to be considered:

1.       Customer computer programming services (NAICS 541511)

2.       Computer systems design services (NAICS 541512)

3.       Computer facilities management services (NAICS 541513)

4.       Other computer related services (NAICS 541519)

There’s a broad spectrum to choose from!

Federal agencies are continually being encouraged to utilize 8(a) business and the DoD has called out 8(a) Stars by name as a great way for agencies to meet small business goals while obtaining the necessary information technology services. The program has a $10 billion dollar ceiling and is available to all agencies.

The process for applying to be on the 8(a) Stars GWAC contains quite a bit of paperwork and information that will need to be submitted. Those contractors who have GSA schedules know what we are talking. You’ll need to provide pricing data, company information, understand all the terms and conditions, as well as proving your company’s technical expertise and experience.

The 8(a) Stars II GWAC is set to be released in the spring of 2015 and will be open for application. You can check out the original contract on FBO (see link below) and start planning ahead. The open season will start at the release of the new solicitation and make sure you check out our other social media for the exact release date! We’ll let you know when it’s available.

FBO link to original 8(a) Stars: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=db6d7c2fcc7d3be50ebcdedefa1139eb&tab=core&_cview=1

GSA 8(a) Stars Info:

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/105243

More information on functional areas:

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/208177#fa1

What to do about the GSA sales requirement

As a GSA Contractor you have felt the breathe of your contracting officer on the back of your neck when you're not or barely meeting your sales requirement of $25,000 a year. So what do you do about it?Well it depends on how many years in you are and whether or not you have made any progress.

If you receive that dreaded letter asking you what you have been doing to increase your GSA sales then you need to respond with a very compelling argument as to why you should get an extension. If you have been making a good faith effort and you have seen nothing in return chances are you will get that extension. If you honestly have not put much effort into it than say that! But, back it up with a good plan of how you will be moving forward. This should include the efforts you will make to market your GSA Contract to the Federal Agencies.

So this sounds great in theory but you have been unsuccessful in the past what will be different? You will! Whether you need to hire a firm that will assist with some of the steps or if you just need to hunker down and make it happen. The very thing that you need to do is come up with a plan.

A good GSA Marketing plan, yes those do exist, include a snap shot of the market. You're probably saying that you know who you competition is, but have you really done an in depth comparison before? You should also know what your target market is, what agencies purchase your products or services the most and who are the people within that agency do you need to talk to? Once you are armed with this information you can start your action plan. The 4 P's (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) still exist in the government market. So create your plan around them.

This is a lot of work and a lot of time and effort, but it will pay off in the end. If you want a little push on getting started schedule an appointment for our free market analysis which will get you started on knowing your competition and target market.
Click here to schedule yours today: http://government-contract-services.reservio.com/

Professional Services Schedule

The GSA is continuing to consolidate and streamline the different acquisition channels available to government purchasers. The major push in this effort is to consolidate professional services into a single “Professional Services Schedule” (PSS). The ever increasing number of vendors on the multiple professional services schedules has led to the movement for consolidation.

The following schedules are in the process of migration:

·         Consolidated (00CORP)

·         MOBIS (874)

·         PES (871)

·         FABS (520)

·         AIMS (541)

·         LOGWORLD (874V)

·         Environmental (899)

·         Language (738 II)

Contractors that belong to these schedules and provide professional services have been receiving letters, requesting they begin the migration process. Contractors should have received migration notices by the end of December. The process for migration consists of submitting a modification against the current contract and providing required documentation, similar to submitting the original offer. Everything will be reviewed and your contract will be migrated.

This change will provide easy ways to purchase as well as easing the burden on contractors with multiple services schedules, which are all maintained and audited separately. Contract administration resources within companies will now only have to manage a single contacting vehicle. For the purpose of reporting sales, conducting Contractor Assistance Visits, and managing eBuy solicitations, PSS will be a huge change on contract admin resources for the better.

In terms of providing services, GSA solicitation will be able to post solicitation against PSS that span more than one professional service and gain monetary benefit from single responses to multi-discipline requests. 

Information Technology and Human Resources contractors need not worry just yet- SIN 132 51 for IT and 595-21 for HR aren’t being migrated. Your schedules are staying just the way they are. 

Refreshes

 So fresh and so clean, clean!

Usually a few times during the fiscal year the GSA schedules go through a “refresh.” The GSA reviews the current solicitation documents for a schedule to see if there are any new requirements, language, and/or updates that need to be added to the schedule. If you have an outstanding offer you will receive an automatic email from eOffer notifying you of the schedule refresh.

It is important to check the solicitations documents through eLibrary before submitting to ensure your offer is at the most recent refresh. If not, the offer will be rejected on spot.  

In the past the refreshes have happened during the first and third quarter of the government’s fiscal year. Within the last year one of the biggest changes from a refresh was for Schedule 84. 84 used to be known as the schedule with no invoices, but with the most recent refresh, invoices are now required like all other schedules.

While working on your GSA Schedule remember to check eLibrary to ensure you are submitting under the must current solicitation.

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

Forecasting for Fiscal Year 2015 has begun!

With the fiscal year starting up, contractors should be on the lookout for procurement forecasts for fiscal year 2015. Major federal agencies are posting procurement forecasts that can help your business plan for bids and proposals for FY15. www.Acquisition.gov is a great place to start when looking for forecasts. You can search by agency forecast or by business opportunities to find what your business should be anticipating.

Forecasting is also a great opportunity to be reach out to contracting officers who are working on opportunities that are of interest to you. Reaching out to contracting officers is one of the best ways to connect with the people who will be advising end-users and making decisions about proposal requirements. Contracting officers are always aware that specialized contractors have knowledge on subjects they may not and will require help writing overly technical solicitation if know a competent contractor who can help.  Take a look at our webinar: Contracting Officer Best Practices.

Forecasts offer a wealth of information for potential contractors. You can learn about the method of procurement, possible ceiling values, and incumbents. Method of procurement is vital knowledge when building an approach since if the opportunity is going through GSA, you have a wealth knowledge about pricing and competition at your disposal. Ceiling values are important factors, showing you an acceptable range to price your bid. If you are over the ceiling value, most likely you won’t win and it gives you time to adjust. Incumbents are a huge source of information as well. Your business can find out details about the work and the agency by getting in touch with the incumbent and learning about how they performed the work.

Most importantly, the key to good forecasting strategy is follow up, follow up, follow up! Some opportunities will be listed for the end of fiscal year 2015 or even the start of fiscal year 2016. The sure-fire trick is to keep your businesses’ name fresh in the mind of contracting officers. Follow up every couple months. Find out how you can help. Inquire whether any other opportunities are coming up last minute.

Procurement forecasts are a great (and often underutilized) tool in the contractor toolbox. Use it to its full advantage.