Several times a year GSA will “refresh” or reissue the solicitation under which your GSA Schedule contract was awarded. When GSA refreshes the solicitation, many of your contract’s terms and conditions may require an additional action or change in the way your contract is managed. These new terms and conditions must be accepted in order to maintain contract compliance.
GSA is releasing a solicitation refresh #15 on January 18, 2023. These changes include description clarifications, Price Proposal Template updates, and NAICS size standards adjustments.
The Small Business Association (SBA) has reviewed economic trends and influences and released a final rule to allow for monetary size standards to be increased in line with inflation. This will benefit small businesses since it will allow them to continue to compete for government opportunities set aside for small businesses.
The Biden Administration has released its full FY 2023 budget with a base discretionary funding request of $1.582 trillion, 7.4 percent more than the comparable FY 2022 level. GSA contractors can expect a proposed increase for the upcoming budget. It is now a good time to ensure that your GSA Schedule pricelist and catalog are up to date and ready to receive orders.
For those following the OASIS + contracting vehicle, there have been several recent developments to report. On November 15, GSA posted a draft RFP for industry comment as well as an industry survey. How can you prepare for the upcoming OASIS Plus?
Government contractors continue to face challenges where they need to understand and adapt to the changing rules quickly, in order to stay competitive. We will summarize the changes over the past year and provide insights on how contract holders can map 2023 GSA strategies.
As GSA continues to look for ways to encourage collaboration between agencies and centralize solutions, their recent effort makes federal purchasing easier. GSA, together with the DAU have created a new tool for government buyers. It is an acquisition regulation comparator (ARC) which simplifies regulations comparisons with the goal of ensuring greater interagency compatibility, collaboration, and shortening the acquisitions process timeframe.
The office of Inspector General (IG) at General Services Administration (GSA) released a report in September 2022 after reviewing how the contracting personnel perform price analyses to ensure GSA gets the best prices. Although the IG recommends terminating the program, GSA plans to move forward and expand the program to all contractors.
A newly proposed rule under The Fair Labor Standards Act could bring changes that affect Government contractors. While the rule is intended to avoid employers from misclassifying employees as independent contractors, its impacts to small businesses can be substantial. Everyone has an opportunity to provide feedback on this proposed rule. The deadline for comments is November 28, 2022.
Starting October 3, 2022, GSA will suspend contractors from GSA Advantage! that are not compliant with providing orders status before the order delivery due date has passed. GSA sends out bi-weekly emails to non-compliant contractors that have scores of 50% or below with at least 11 items on the report. This does not cancel contract, but removes them from GSA Advantage.
GSA is expanding their Commercial Platform to new offerors that have experience selling to commercial and government clients. A draft RFP is open through the end of September 2022.
The Biden administration declared September 18 – 24, 2022 Minority Enterprise Development Week. Also announced a 50% increase that would increase the goal for Small Disadvantage business from 10% to 15% by 2025 and result in about $100 billion more in contract awards to minority-owned businesses over a five-year period. Our experience gives us an understanding of the struggle small business owners face. This is exactly why it is our mission to provide resources and solutions that help small business owners avoid pitfalls and win more contracts.
SAM.gov updates entity registration roles and requires all Entity Administrators to hold positions in the registering entity, restricting third-parties to “Data Entry” roles.
New guidance states that federal contractors are not required to mandate vaccinations for employees working onsite on federal contracts.
GSA’s office is currently working on a draft proposal for OASIS+ and continually releasing updates based on industry comments. The new OASIS+ will include many of the benefits of the renowned OASIS Multi-Agency contract with many added features and increased scope. The final is expected to be released in early 2023 if not sooner.
SBA creates a path for small business to obtain credit for past performance as a member of joint venture and first-tier subcontrator. A move that will expand the opportunities that prior to this rule, emerging small businesses would not be able to pursue.
The General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Acquisition Services (FAS) is releasing a Refresh #14 to Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001. This refresh temporarily closes the Core Financial Management Solutions (Core FS) Subgroup of SIN 518210FM to new offers and modifications, however contractors will have alternative to continue to submit. After the review, the Subgroup will reopen.
Financial Management Quality Service Management Office (FM QSMO) is an initiative created to help achieve the US Treasury modernize the financial systems in various agencies. They have teamed with GSA to establish a new Special Item Number 518218FM on the GSA Schedule.
The Common Catalog Platform, or CCP, is a new web-based application developed by GSA to improve vendors’ experience, improve efficiency and address accessibility issues. GSA will release CCP as a pilot to Office Supplies 4th generation (OS4) contractors in 2023. With the updates to the modification process, GSA hopes the catalog becomes an integrated part of the modification process.
GSA Schedule contract holders will have another solicitation refresh applied to all MAS contracts at the end of this month. Effective 30 June 2022, refresh #13 is another unilateral update to the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) solicitation.