What is this Formatted Product Tool and what does it mean for your company?

First of all, this new tool only apply's to product companies so if you are a service only company look away. If you sell strictly products or products and services then this will eventually apply to how you manage your GSA Contract. The Formatted Product Tool was built to make managing your contract easier and to streamline the modification process.

First of all, we can all celebrate the impending death of the Schedule Input Program (SIP)! This new tool will be replacing it eventually. Also, the new tool will removing a step from the process. Now, you submit a modification and once that modification is submitted you update your SIP files. The new process will include updating your GSA Advantage files when you upload the modification itself.

FPT will also automatically run comparisons. For example, if you are submitting a product addition modification or a pricing modification the system will tell you where you stand compared to other vendors with the same product on Contract. This increased transparency will hopefully speed up the modification process and make small businesses more competitive because there is more information at their fingertips.

So, sounds like the government is making improvements to make vendor's lives a bit easier. In the long run, yes. However, for all current vendors you will need to go into the system and complete what GSA is calling "base-lining". Essentially this means taking what you already have approved on GSA Advantage and uploading this through FPT.

The GSA is rolling out this tool through a mass modification beginning in Mid-July. The mass mod will begin with Schedules 58 I and 72 and will be rolled out with Scheduled 51V, 73, 75 and 70 int he coming weeks. Base-lining is not mandatory within the mass modification but is highly recommended because it will become mandatory as the GSA begins adoption of the process.

If you want to keep on the latest the GSA has an Interact page dedicated to FPT. You can take a look at it here: https://interact.gsa.gov/document/important-update-gsa-begin-rollout-formatted-product-tool-fpt-starting-solicitation.

As always, if you have any questions you can reach out to the team here at GCS. We are also offering free base-lining to the first 10 vendors that sign up here: https://government-contract-services.reservio.com/

And of course...Happy Independence Day!

Acting as One for Smarter Acquisition

With the GSA on a never ending mission to simplify and streamline procurement and acquisition, the Acquisition Gateway is a newly updated tool for the Federal Acquisition Workforce to collaborate and better understand the needs of end users. It’s becoming a smart system for acquisition learning.

You might be thinking- how many different tools do the Contracting Officers really need? They already have access to not only all the same website that contractors do, such as www.gsaadvantage.gov and www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov but they have comparison features and competitive analysis features that contractors don’t have access to.

But the Acquisition Gateway is a little bit different. It's a work space for Federal Contracting Officers, which will help them learn the best ways to do their jobs. In turn, that helps the contractors! It’s collaboration tool that can crowd source information from purchasing experts within the Federal Acquisition Workforce to benefit everyone. It’s a more effective tool to find solution comparisons, tools, templates, success stories, and prices paid data, creating more successful outcomes at each step of the acquisition lifecycle.

The Gateway is broken up into 19 separate hallways: Administrative Support, Card Services, Cleaning Supplies & Chemicals, Employee Relocation, Facilities & Maintenance, Freight, IT Hardware, IT Security, IT Services, IT Software, Motor Vehicles, Professional Services, Security & Protection, Small Package Delivery, Talent Development, Telecommunications, Tools & Hardware, Travel, and Workplace Environment. For each hallway, there is a plethora of information provided like expert articles on subject matter, solution finders to make sure they are buying exactly what they need, historical pricing data and community support.

Currently, the tools are only open to Federal government users, but public access is a priority. Contractors will have access to some (but not all) of the same tools as they work on RFPs and pricing their products and services for the government marketplace.

If you’re interested in seeing what exactly the newest updates are, the GSA has created a handy infographic to explain everything. There’s also a great preview video showing what’s new and what’s coming up. 

Manufacturer Part Numbers and UPCs

Most likely you have all seen the emails from the GSA threatening a MAS Mod that will force every vendor on the GSA with products to go into their price list and make sure that the part numbers listed on GSA Advantage are the manufacturer part numbers.

Since that MAS Mod has not come to fruition the GSA recently sent an email out to vendors asking for their help in improving product data on GSA Advantage. This means making sure that your company is using manufacturer part numbers and UPC numbers, if available, for all products that are currently on schedule and moving forward. For some companies who do not offer a wide range of products accomplishing this will be a rather easy task. However, for others this is a large undertaking.

So why is the GSA pushing so hard for this to happen? Let’s take a look at two companies, one that uses the manufacturer numbers and one that does not.

I will use a Rubbermaid 35G garbage can as an example.

When doing a search by name of the product you see that I get a wide range of manufacturers and manufacturer numbers as well.

 

 

If I do a search using the mfg part number the results change a little bit.

As you can see by the two pictures, when using the manufacturer part number the contracting officer is given more accurate results. If your company is wondering why sales of certain products have not been up to par, take a look at whether or not the part numbers you have listed correspond to the manufacturer’s.

So in turn, helping the GSA improve GSA Advantage is helping your company’s products become easier to find.

If you’re unsure where to start or just need help with your large list of products, give us a call 216-662-7044.