All Federal agencies have to abide by a variety of rules. These determine who and how agency buyers should purchase from the various procurement vehicles available to them. As part of their due diligence, government contractors will conduct research on what contracting vehicles their targeted buyers are using. They will then pursue getting on those vehicles in order to compete. At the end of the day, you want to make it easier for your buyer to do business with you.

For Federal agencies buying products and services from GSA Schedule holders just got a lot easier.

In September of 2018, GSA, DOD, and NASA were successful in appealing to the CAAC to eliminate individual determination requirements on interagency acquisitions. Eliminating individual requirement determination will help streamline acquisitions through the GSA schedule programs, as well as others.

The previous rule was that all acquisition above $550,000 required the contracting officer to perform a determination of best procurement approach. Then they had to request approval to purchase through another agencies contracting vehicle if it was seen as the best approach. The recent letter states the authority given in the FY’18 the Defense Authorization bill permits a class determination per contracting vehicle.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC) is a multi-agency governing body. They “assists the Administrator of General Services in developing and maintaining the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) System by developing or reviewing all proposed changes to the FAR.”

Many contractors currently doing business in the federal market without a GSA Schedule will start facing more competition. Reach out to Coley at 210-402-6766 or hello@coleygsa.com if you want to have a conversation about what is involved in getting and managing a GSA Schedule. We can provide you with insights to help determine if it is the right decision for you.