GSA Schedule Changes Not All Bad

On June 7, 2012, the General Services Administration announced that they are cutting 8,000 contracts from the GSA Schedule. I have been taking many calls where people are afraid the GSA is going away or being reduce in its size and scope due to the Nevada Convention Incident. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is true that the GSA is cutting 8,000 contracts however these are in most cases schedules that contain outdated items that are rarely if ever purchased by the federal government such as typewriters, photographic equipment, and other obsolete equipment not seen in most businesses in the past decade. Keeping these schedules open was costing $24 million dollars annually as each schedule is reported to have cost $3,000 per year. 


This cost is regardless of whether there was any business activity in those schedules. I am actually very excited by this move as it will move these skilled GSA contract administers to other areas decreasing time to obtain a schedule, and allowing the GSA to focus on newer and more innovative products. As I have not taken on a client selling typewriters in quite some time, but I have had other clients with high-tech products that fit on a schedule, but they are clustered with many other products that makes visibility and comparisons for government buyers more difficult.


I think the single biggest statistic that shows the overall success of the GSA schedule contract program is the fact that in recent years “the number of modifications to existing contracts has tripled”. This means that firms who are getting on schedule and are adding additional products and services to their schedules, and increasing the breadth of product offerings. The only logical reason one would do this is because you are being successful with your current schedule.


I would like to reiterate that this is a positive change taking place at the GSA, and if you have any questions regarding whether a GSA schedule makes sense for your firm feel free to give me a call at (201) 916-9799 or email me at sean@seaninc.biz.