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[ Market Watch ]
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New GSA programs designed to increase Schedule use
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by Andy Mohr
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As part of GSA's efforts to increase sales and burnish its image, GSA has recently implemented two new initiatives, the MAS Express Program and Disaster Recovery Purchasing, to get GSA sales back on track.
On Jan. 16, the GSA announced the implementation of the eagerly awaited Multiple Award Schedule Express Program (the Program), which is designed to allow GSA Schedule contracting officers to award GSA Schedules contracts within 30 calendar days.
Need For SPEED
Pursuant to the instructions released by GSA, offers are sent to a centralized Schedule Program Express Evaluation Desk (SPEED) for expedited review and qualification to ensure that the offer meets the minimum "core criteria." Offers not meeting the "core criteria" are returned to the offeror with a notice of rejection and an explanation as to the deficiencies found.
Core criteria include the following:
- offeror must be in business for a minimum of two years;
- offeror's cumulative sales (primarily or entirely commercial) during the last two years must exceed a minimum of $100,000;
- offeror must have a minimum current ratio of 1.5 (calculated by dividing the offeror's current assets by its current liabilities) based on the offeror's most current financial statement; and
- offeror must have a positive and/or neutral rating on all elements of its Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation Report.
While the primary goal of the Program is to simplify and streamline the process for new offerors to obtain a GSA Schedule contract, the requirements for submitting an offer don't depart significantly from the standard process currently in place. Offerors must still meet all additional "secondary" criteria identified in the applicable GSA Schedule solicitation, such as registering in the Central Contractor Registration database, submitting commercial sales practices data, and completing all fill-in clauses.
Only those offers meeting the "core criteria" above and the additional secondary criteria will be forwarded to the appropriate acquisition office for further consideration. It's also important to note that while the GSA published instructions express a desire and intent to award GSA Schedules contracts in 30 days, GSA doesn't guarantee anywhere that a qualified offer that meets all the criteria for the Program will necessarily receive a contract within 30 days.
Early word on the street also indicates that the Program has had little, if any, success to date, because offerors are being required to undergo time consuming financial responsibility determinations that make the 30-day goal impossible to meet.
Disaster Recovery Purchasing
GSA recently issued a mass modification via the GSA Vendor Support Center to all GSA Schedules holders that, once accepted by the vendor, would allow state and local government ordering activities to purchase from those Schedule vendors in the event a major disaster is declared or in the event of a terrorist, nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack. The modification applies to all GSA Schedule contracts, but vendors may elect not to participate. In addition, even if a vendor elects to participate in the program, they are not required to accept individual orders from state or local government buyers should they receive one.
The modification was issued in early February and should be available via the GSA Vendor Support Web site for a year. Acceptance of the modification means acceptance of additional reporting requirements for sales made under the Program. Specifically, contractors will be asked to report data elements such as items and quantities sold, prices, BPAs entered into under the Recovery Purchasing program, and state or local governments placing orders under this modification.
As a practical matter, vendors with a GSA Group 70 Information Technology Schedule can already sell to state and local government at any time under the Cooperative Purchasing Program. Theoretically, these vendors shouldn't need to accept this modification in order to sell to these customers in the event of an emergency, although the modification does not address this issue. Thus, it remains to be seen whether Group 70 vendors that didn't accept this modification would be in violation of their contract if they were to accept an order from a state or local entity in the event of an emergency even though Cooperative Purchasing was part of their contract.
Andrew Mohr is a partner in the law firm of Cohen Mohr LLP and a Professorial Lecturer at American University in Washington, DC, who specializes in government and commercial contracts, including GSA schedules. C. Kelly Kroll is an associate at Cohen Mohr with extensive experience in GSA Schedule contract proposal preparation, negotiation, and administration. Contact them at (202) 342-2550, fax (202) 342-6147, or at cohenmohr.com.
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