Are you nearing the end of your current GSA Schedule with no option periods left? If your GSA Schedule contract is nearing its 20 year shelf life, it will ultimately end. You may be considered a Successful MAS contractor by GSA, meaning that you have had “minimum sales of $25,000 per year for the previous five years of reported sales and meeting other criteria as noted in the current solicitation.” If this is you, congratulations! But now what? You may be filled with questions like: Do you submit for a new offer? How? What about my offerings? New schedule contract number? New Period of Performance? How do I handle my existing and new GSA customers with or without a contract? Does the thought of going through the process of getting a new GSA Schedule like you did 20 years ago make your eye tremble a little?
What is a MAS Streamline Offer?
A Streamline Offer is a way for successful contractors to submit a new offer under streamlined acquisition procedures while still providing continuous service to your GSA customers. With the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program beginning in the mid-nineties, and given that GSA Schedules cannot exceed 20 years, simple math will tell you that these types of questions are here and not in short supply. Thankfully, GSA has anticipated this early on and provides streamline offers.
Active GSA Schedule contractors who are in their final option period and have a successful sales history are eligible to have overlapping, continuous MAS contracts. This is a solution designed to wrap up your active acquisitions under the active contract (legacy) until it expires, while new work is acquired under the new GSA Schedule. To have a new GSA Schedule overlapping contract, then the contractor must submit a streamlined offer to GSA.
Once the streamlined offer has been awarded a new contract by GSA, the legacy contract will be terminated or allowed to expire. This overlapping method of contracts will allow the contractor to continue providing service to GSA customers while experiencing no interruption during this process.
The Streamlined Offer follows the same procedures that a new offeror must follow (SCP-FSS-001 Instructions Applicable to All Offerors), however many of the requirements have been removed for Streamlined Offers.
While all other requirements found in SCP-FSS-001 must be included to in the offer, the following will not apply to Streamlined Offers:
- Pathways to Success Training
- Readiness Assessment
- Financial Statements from the Past Two Years
- Corporate Experience Summary
- Past Performance Information: Questionnaires and Relevant Project Experience
How Long Does a GSA Streamlined Offer Take?
The time to award for streamlined offers can take 3 months, 6 months, 1 year and even more after the date of submission to GSA. These varied wait times are dependent of the type of industry the offeror belongs to, the GSA Region that the offer is assigned to, the current workload at that region, and the staff available within the region to review and process the offer. After submission, the offer will be placed in a queue and GSA will attempt to process your offer in the order it has been received in most cases and applies to both new and streamlined offers.
When is the Best Time to Submit a GSA Streamlined Offer?
Legacy contractors who have entered their final option period of the legacy contract will also begin receiving email notifications from GSA regarding the Streamlined Offer process. While eligible for the streamlined offer submission in year 15 of the legacy contract, it may be a bit too early to submit a streamlined offer. However, we recommend our GSA Schedule holders to start communications with GSA as soon as the Streamlined email notifications are received to help better gauge the current climate.
This opens a healthy line of communication with GSA and will usually produce positive results, a better experience with plenty of time for preparation and processing, may reduce the number and intensity of clarifications, and ultimately receive a new contract awarded in the shortest amount of time possible.
What Offerings Should the Streamlined Offer include?
Per SCP-FSS-001, a streamlined offer must contain the same, or subset of, the Special Item Numbers (SINs) currently awarded under the legacy contract. What is not expressed are the specific offerings that fall under the legacy contract’s SINs.
Based on our experience of processing Streamlined offers for multiple clients, I would recommend that these should mirror the legacy contract as much as possible but annotate any changes that are necessary. The products, services, and training in the legacy contract that are no longer applicable or obsolete should be removed from your streamline offer. Essentially the Same (ETS) and products/services that are not compliant with the Trade Agreements Act should also be removed. And finally, annotate anything that has had a commercial price change. While adding anything new under these SINs is not specifically expressed in the solicitation, the Contracting Officer should be made aware of how you want to present your offer while also maintaining the offer’s “streamlined” status.
What Happens After Streamlined Offers are Awarded?
Once awarded, and hopefully within a short period of time, any new proposals and/or orders received will be processed under the new contract. Any existing acquisitions will fall under the legacy contract until contract performance has expired and all sales reports have been submitted, IFF paid. If the legacy contract is also still “alive” at the time of the streamline award, then the contractor may terminate the legacy contract and continue service with the streamlined contract.
Our GSA contract experts have helped many successful GSA Schedule contract holders with the Streamlined Offer Submission process all the way to the award and has helped these contractors with its continued success beyond the award. If you have any questions about your Streamlined Offer or are interested in obtaining a GSA schedule, contact us today at hello@coleygcs.com, by phone at 210-402-6766 or schedule a call to get started on obtaining your GSA Schedule—a critical step on your road to success in the government market.
Julio is a Senior Consultant with Coley GCS, LLC, a Government Contracts Consulting, Coaching and Training company. Julio has over 10 years’ experience helping companies succeed with their GSA schedules.