GSA announced earlier this year they would be moving away from the proprietary Dun & Bradstreet’s Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) in favor of an internally developed and managed Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).
GSA has been extracting itself from commercial proprietary
handcuffs over the years, beginning with the Open Ratings requirement, which is
now only necessary when a company lacks sufficient CPARS. These moves provide
GSA with greater control across all agencies and will allow vendors to compete
to provide the entity validation services, rather than provide a direct award
to D&B. GSA’s plan is to phase the release of the UEI through December
2020.
Beginning December 2020, Federal contractors will obtain UEI
through beta.sam.gov (or sam.gov by that time) registrations and annual
maintenance. The new UEI will be twelve characters long and assigned based to
separate legal entities or separate physical addresses. All contractors
currently registered in SAM will automatically be assigned an UEI by December
2020.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
When submitting a GSA Schedule Offer, GSA requires that you provide evidence of successful past performance. Typically, this requirement has been satisfied by ordering an Open Ratings Past Performance Report through D&B. However, as of Dec 6, 2019, D&B is no longer accepting orders for their Open Ratings Past Performance Evaluation Report.
According to the latest Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Solicitation, GSA permits three options for satisfying past performance requirements:
Option 1: CPARS (preferred)
Option one is to verify in eOffer that you have three (3) or more Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (“CPARS”) reports that:
were completed within the last three years,
represent at least three distinct orders/contracts, and
outline work similar to the scope of products/services included in the solicitation and for which you are proposing to offer
Option 2: Open Ratings (NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
This option is not available at this time according to D&B’s website. We will update this blog when the government determines an alternative to the Open Rating report. In the meantime, use Options 1 or 3 to satisfy GSA Schedule Offer past performance requirements.
Option 3: Past Performance Narrative
Option three is developing a past performance narrative, which includes a list of relevant customer references. The narrative needs to explain why you cannot use method one or method two, and include up to five (5) references from customers for whom you have performed work within the past three (3) years that is similar in scope to products/services outlined in the solicitation.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
Everything You Thought You Knew About GSA Schedules is Changing.
GSA is rolling 24 GSA Schedules into one Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) that will include 12 large categories, 83 subcategories, and 316 Special Item Numbers SINS. To add to the complexity of this transition, GSA will require Transactional Data Reporting on some SINs, but not on others; and some SINs will include “Special Fees”. With all these changes happening, it can be very challenging to keep up.
The good news is that GSA has thought through the challenges that their consolidation initiative may create and have addressed many of them on its site and in GSA Interact. Ultimately, we believe this transition will benefit both buyers and for vendors; but like most change, it will be painful as we go through the transition.
One question that GSA had not addressed was how they will post opportunities on GSA eBuy where some contracts have transitioned to the new SINs while others are still under the old SINs. Traditionally, the Government buyer (CO/KO) who posts an opportunity to eBuy must select the appropriate SIN. Our concern was whether the Buyer would need to select both the old and new SIN, or would eBuy automatically select both so that vendors would not miss out on opportunities.
We reached out to Stephanie Shutt, Director of the Multiple Award Schedule Program Management Office heading the transition. She reassured us that GSA has developed a mapping system within eBuy that links existing SINs to the new SINs, so all vendors that qualify, whether under the new SIN structure or old SIN structure will receive notice of the opportunities.
That’s great news and reassured us that legacy contractors won’t miss out on posted RFQ’s during the transition. The MAS PMO office is setting a goal to have all legacy contracts transitioned over to the consolidated MAS no later than July 2020.
All legacy contract holders should receive a mass modification in January 2020 to migrate their contracts to the new consolidated GSA Schedule. Vendors then have six months to work with GSA Procurement Contracting Officers to migrate their contract to the new MAS. There are many things one needs to consider when transitioning, especially where multiple GSA contracts are involved, such as open task orders, contract length, contract terms, discounting policies, etc.
Coley GCS is already up-to-speed on these challenges and have identified ways to simplify the changes for our clients early in the calendar year. Call us for assistance on the GSA Consolidation initiative—we are ready to help!
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
As Florida begins to prepare for the swiftly
approaching hurricane Dorian, disaster preparation and recovery by local and
state government has become an increasingly relevant topic. The result of
natural disasters can be devastating, and government officials are having the
foresight to prepare for anticipated and unanticipated damages. If you have a GSA
Schedule contract you may be wondering how to provide products or services to
local and state government agencies that are in need during a natural, or
man-made disaster such as hurricane Dorian.
How the Disaster Purchasing Program Works
The Department of Homeland Security allows all
services and products available under GSA Schedules through the Disaster
Purchasing Program, which in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, such
as acts of terrorism or nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack,
equipment and services can be purchased by state and local governments from the
GSA Schedules. This includes in preparation, response, or in recovery of
declared disasters that is listed by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).The
Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have already been listed under Disaster
Declarations on FEMA in the past few days due to do hurricane Dorian, and
Florida is anticipated to follow suit.
State or local government institutions are defined in
section 40 U.S.C § 502 (c) as “The term, ‘State or local government’ includes
any State, local, regional, or tribal government, or any instrumentality
thereof (including any local educational agency or institution of higher
education).” This does not include contractors or grantees that may be
eligible; eligibility requests can be submitted to GSA.
Authorized GSA Schedule contractors, contracts, products
and services are identified with a Disaster
Purchasing icon. This icon means that state and local agencies can purchase
from these contractors or grantees only in event of disaster or recovery. These
purchases are limited to GSA Schedule contracts and Blanket Purchase Agreements
(BPAs) only. Schedule contractors identified with the Disaster Purchasing icon
have the option of accepting orders placed by state and local agencies, and
they are authorized to decline an order within a five-day period. Products or
services purchased under the Disaster Purchasing Program must only be used for
disaster preparation, response, or recovery from declared disasters.
Do Your Provide Products and Services That Support Disaster Relief Efforts?
GSA Schedule holders that provide these services need
to make sure the government knows you can offer them under the Disaster purchasing
program. If you do not have this icon, you
will need to submit a modification to update your contract. If you need
assistance or have additional questions, reach out to Coley GCS at [email protected] or directly at 210-402-6766 and we will ensure that the contract is
primed for these conditions.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
SBA Proposed Rule to Size Standards extends calculations
from average of three year of receipts to five years.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) posted a proposed rule
to modify its method for calculating annual average receipts used to determine
size standards for small businesses. SBA has proposed to change its regulations
on the calculation of annual average receipts from a three-year averaging
period to a five-year averaging period. The rule will not affect employee count
under manufacturing NAICS.
The intention is to create size-standard consistency
throughout the federal government and benefit small business in a strong
economy. A five-year average will generally be lower than a three-year average,
allowing:
Mid-sized businesses who have just exceeded size
standards to regain their small business status, and
Advanced small businesses close to exceeding the
size standard to retain their small business status for a longer period. It
The opposite would tend to be true in an economic downturn.
SBA Seeking Public Comments
SBA is allowing for public comments and feedback until August 23, 2019. The National Veterans Small Business Council and Coley GCS are in favor of this rule and have provided some sample language for those in favor of the extension:
“COMMENT REF: RIN 3245–AH16 – IN FAVOR. This proposed rule change on the calculation
of annual average revenues from a three-year averaging period to a five-year
averaging period will be very helpful to small businesses of every size,
especially those that have successfully grown to revenues above the three-year
average for their respective NAICS code.
This rule change supports the small business, providing them additional
time to prepare to successfully compete in the full & open marketplace, and
also benefits Government by ensuring continued access to these successful small
businesses. I am a small business owner (or employee) and support this rule
change by SBA. “
SBA has also discussed changing HUBZone and WOSB
certification requirements.
If you have questions of concerns about the SBA proposed rule, contact Coley GCS by phone at 210-402-6766 or by email at [email protected]
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
MAS Consolidation is happening as previously advised. Plans to consolidate all 24 GSA Federal Supply Schedules into one mega schedule beginning October 1, 2019. GSA has released an industry Request for Information on changes and formatting to the new solicitation scheduled to arrive in the next fiscal year: (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
Best Value should always be used when the deliverable requirements are not clearly defined, and there may be a risk of contractor performance. The tradeoff process allows tradeoffs between price and non-price factors, the tradeoff should justify the tradeoff in price.
The selection committee or contracting officer will determine if tradeoff process is appropriate and when that decision is made, the following apply:
All evaluation factors and significant subfactors that will affect contract award and their relative importance shall be clearly stated in the solicitation; and
The solicitation shall state whether all evaluation factors other than cost or price, when combined, are significantly more important than, approximately equal to, or significantly less important than cost or price.
When the tradeoff process is used, pay specific attention to the evaluation factors and how those items are evaluated. If you are unsuccessful in your bid, when appropriate, request a full debriefing.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
The scourge of many professional service providers is the lowest priced technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection process. FAR 15.101-2 address LPTA source selection.
Product vendors, especially those acted as resellers of widely available products, should understand that nearly all of their federal opportunities will be price sensitive and value will likely not be considered. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
A new email pops into your Inbox. It’s an order off through your GSA schedule directly through GSAAdvantage. Your first thought is elation – the schedule program is working!
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
Federal professional services firms should all breath a sign of relief— one of the many changes of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the government-wide restriction on the application of Lowest-Priced Technically Acceptable (LPTA) as the basis of award on complex professional and IT services contracts. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
Last December, GSA has stated a new initiative to create one
mega-schedule
consolidating and housing all existing schedules. This will be a massive
undertaking that, we believe, will streamline scope expansion for new and
existing schedule holders.
Today GSA has shared some key information on the consolidation process.
GSA intends to release new terms and conditions in early
June that will reveal more of the phase-out for public comments.
Until then, we have heard that GSA will continue to award contracts and
modifications under current terms and conditions until October 1, 2019, at
which time the new terms and conditions are slated to take effect.
Current schedule holders will receive a mass modification to
accept the new terms and conditions in January 2020.
Coley will continue to monitor and connect with GSA to get
updates as things progress. If you have question or concerns, contact Coley.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
Information Technology Government Opportunity Released!
The United States Air Force released a Request for Quote on March 04t, 2019 titled Second Generation Information Technology (2GIT) Blanket Purchase Agreement. The USAF has determined to make the 2GIT BPA a mandatory use vehicle for the replacement of the NETCENTS-2 (NC2) Products IDIQ contract.
The NC2 IDIQ was USAF’s go-to procurement option with a
ceiling spend value of $6.9B. NC2 IDIQ expires in November 2019, making the new
2GIT GSA BPA a necessary vehicle for all software and product resellers on the
GSA schedule.
The USAF must receive all responses to the 2GIT RFP by April
19th and all responses must be provided through the eBuy portal.
The stated intent of the BPA is to reduce redundancies and
create fast and effective ways to order IT hardware and software commodities.
2GIT has five classes of products:
BPA Line Item One – Data Center (Compute/Store)
BPA Line Item Two – End User
BPA Line Item Three – Network (Connect)
BPA Line Item Four – Radio Equipment
BPA Line Item Five – Order Level Material (OLM)
USAF states they will not base awards on lowest price
technically acceptable basis but will instead review best value and Fair and
Reasonable Price evaluations. USAF will look at the following non-price factors
breadth of the OEM products you are offering through your schedule or through
your team; Relevant Experience; Socioeconomic Factor and subcontracting goals;
and finally Supply Chain Risk Management.
Pricing factors will be based on the evaluation of a market basket;
which include the most commonly ordered items under the BPA. Note of concern is
that bidders must provide quotes for all the most commonly ordered products or
face possible elimination from the BPA evaluation.
All products proposed must be awarded to you GSA IT 70
schedule or to a member of your teams’ schedule; No Open Market Items are
permitted.
USAF anticipates awarding nine (9) BPAs to vendors or teams.
Most frequently ordered manufacturers include:
BPA
Line Item OneData
Center (Compute/Store)
BPA
Line Item TwoEnd
User
BPA
Line Item ThreeNetwork
(Connect)
BPA
Line Item FourRadio
Equipment
HPE
Dell
Cisco
Motorola
APC
HPI
Extreme Networks
Harris
Vmware
Symantec
Broadcom/ Ruckus/Brocade
Dell
LG
NetApp
IBM
Samsung
F5 Networks
McAfee
Juniper
Locate the RFQ on your eBuy site. If you need assistance with the response, building a team, or accessing your eBuy contact Coley at 210-402-6766 or by email at [email protected].
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
The Professional Services Schedule (PSS) is making it easier
to win new schedules and new SINs. The General Service Administration 00CORP
PSS program announced
that an upcoming March 2019 solicitation will streamline the solicitation and
remove barriers to entry for new and existing schedule holders. (more…)
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
The Texas State Procurement Division (SPD), which manages the Texas Multiple Award Schedule (TXMAS), has announced that “effective immediately, SPD has issued a hold on accepting all new TXMAS applications.”
SPD cannot provide a guaranteed date to re-opening the successful TXMAS program, but tentatively have stated they expect the suspension to last through March 14, 2019. Interested vendors should return to the site after March 1, when a determination will be made regarding the suspension.
Current proposals in review will remain in the review process. All new application packets will be rejected and returned.
The TXMAS program has had difficulties and long review cycles over the last few years when sweeping changes were implemented, including:
Introduction of the online TXSmartBuy purchasing portal
Reduction in Texas Contract Redundancies
removal of all Technology products and services, including ancillary technology services, conferring communication, and audio-visual solutions – those offering are supported under the TX DIR program (TX DIR)
Other Miscellaneous products and solutions provided under State Term contracts (Term)
A requirement of a Signed letter from authorized buyers, guaranteeing purchasing through the TXMAS program
The award review cycles for contracts have been pushed from six months to 18 months for some vendors.
TXMAS is a successful state, local, and education procurement vehicle that award multiple award contracts using other federal and state multi-year award contracts as a base for establishing product offerings and price reasonableness.
If you are interested in pursuing the TXMAS contracting vehicle or other government and cooperative purchasing vehicles, contact Coley for assistance.
Vice President for Coley Government Contracting Services, Dan leads the day-to-day Consulting Practice. He has more than a decade of experience with the acquisition, management, and marketing of Federal, State, and Local government contracts. Daniel specializes in all aspects of GSA Schedules management and marketing and has helped hundreds of Coley clients remain compliant with the terms of their GSA contract while helping them expand their business.
