• You do NOT need to be on Schedule to sell to the government
• The Schedule is a bit like the Government's Amazon, so a great place to look for solutions, compare alternatives, and purchase quickly and confidently
• Don’t use the GSA Schedule to break into the government market, use it to scale your already successful government market business
• The Schedule application is all about getting your lowest prices, and then asking for more discounts. Great for the government, but terrible for your margins

I am not a GSA Schedule expert but the Schedule is a critical feature in the GovCon landscape and I wanted to understand it so I read everything I could find and decided to turn my research into this guide.  I have the original sources at the bottom of the page, but the majority of the content came from Jennifer Schaus and Paul Schauer:

What is the Schedule: The schedule is a list of pre-vetted products and services that the government can quickly and easily procure. 

Why the government uses a Schedule: Government acquisitions are famously slow and painful so the government has established a variety of acquisitions “work arounds” or contract vehicles to help them get high quality  products, services and software fast and at a reasonable price.  The Schedule is arguably the largest of these “work arounds” and here’s an overview of how the Schedule addresses each factor:

• Keeps price low: The core of a Schedule application is 1) a review of the prices applicants have charged in the past and 2) price negotiations between the government and the applicant to ensure the government gets the best price possible.

• Ensures quality is high: During the application process the government interviews previous customers and reviews the company’s QA/QC procedures.

• Speeds up purchases: Because everyone on Schedule has been prescreened, acquisitions through the Schedule can move fast and require less work for the government, and the vendor.

Why contractors want to be on Schedule: As far as I can tell every major government contractor is on Schedule because it improves:

• Access to sales opportunities: The government buys about $30B/year through the Schedule, and only people on Schedule can bid on those pieces of work. 

• Credibility with the government and other vendors: Because the Schedule evaluation process is so rigorous being on Schedule is a strong marker of technical credibility and commitment to the market.

• Reduced competition: There are roughly 450K federal government contractors but only 20K are on Schedule.  As such the competition for the “RFPs” put out through the Schedule is lower

• Accelerated sales: As described above the time to make a sale through the schedule can be  faster.

• Reduced effort per proposal:  When the government releases an RFP under the schedule you’ll still need to write a proposal but the effort tends to be lower than with traditional RFPs. 

• Increased optionality: All  federal agencies, and many states, cities and quasi government entities (ie. UN, World Bank, IMF, IFC, etc) can purchase certain things off of the GSA Schedule helping contractors expand into other customers and markets.

What kinds of things are on the Schedule: Almost everything is on the Schedule. It's easy to think that the government only buys tanks and space shuttles but most government purchases are for commercial items like desk chairs and computers, or commercial services like janitorial and IT help desks.  

The schedule only has products and services that commercial companies buy. So, a tank would not be on Schedule since only the government buys tanks. But, if tanks use commercial paint or antennas, then those could be on Schedule.  

People frequently describe the GSA Schedule as the Government’s Amazon and it’s a good comparison.  People typically don’t go to Amazon or the Schedule  to buy super customized and expensive things. But if you need an easy way to quickly and confidently compare and buy commodities you can’t beat them.

The Schedule may sound pretty great and straight forward, but keep in mind:

• It’s going to cost you at least $20K in time and/or consultant fees to get onto Schedule
• About 60% of the companies that get on to Schedule never actually sell anything (make any money) through the Schedule.
• Your profit margin on the products, services and software sold through the Schedule is going to be low (the Schedule application focusses on getting your lowest rates).
• In a lot of ways your schedule is an entirely new line of business so you should evaluate it's financial merits

So before you pursue the Schedule here is my analysis of who the Schedule is good for:

1.  You can get on schedule with high rates.  Many of the most prestigious companies in the world are on the Schedule and their rates are much higher than their industry peer group.  So it CAN be done, but this is going to make your life a lot harder so consider hiring a consultant

Getting on schedule is a complex decision and there are a lot of predatory service providers who are happy to take your money and help you get on Schedule even if its the wrong decision for your company.  So take a look at these factors and if you’re on the fence reach out to one of the service providers we recommend.

There are a few million items for sale on the Schedule, so to help create some order the GSA has organized the content:

The schedule works a bit like a “Prefered Vendors List” or “Master Services Agreement.” So in a nutshell the government screens applicants on a few different criteria, and if they pass they get added to the Schedule and because they’ve been pre-screened the government can buy from them more confidently and quickly.  The lifecycle of a Schedule holder looks a bit like:

• The applicants explains what they provide, and how much they charge
• The government vets the applicant, their products and services, and pricing
• The government negotiates to try to get the price down even more
• If approved the applicant’s products and services are added to the Schedule
• Government buyers directly buy from the Schedule (like you would on Amazon)
• The government posts RFPs to the Schedule that only companies on the schedule can compete for

Lots of people seem to think that the government buying process is purely process driven and that relationships and marketing aren’t part of the equation.  This is flatly false.  Relationships and marketing are super important.

• There are millions of items on the Schedule so you need to make sure that when a government buyer is looking for something they recognize your product or service and even better that they go searching the Schedule for your product or service specifically.  
• Building relationships is critical whether you get on Schedule or not. So build them before spending the time and money to go after the Schedule.
• Educate and steer government customers to your schedule
• The RFPs that come out on Schedule have been influence (worked and wired) by other vendors just like the RFPs on betaSAM so evaluate your P-win before going after them (for more on P-Win see HERE)

How long will it take: Every company is different, but if your company isn’t too big and complex and if you are working on it nights and weekends then two months is probably a good planning figure.

When can you apply: The application window for the GSA Schedule is always open.

The application process:

• Define the products and services you want to put on Schedule
• Take the required training
• Find your Special Item Numbers (SINs) 
• Fill out the application
• E-file
• Government review (they may come back with questions, if they do respond FAST)
• Price negotiations
• Your products, services and prices are added to the schedule

It’s easy to think that your company is applying to the schedule, and that is partially true, but I believe that you’re better off thinking about each of your products and each of your employees applying to be on the schedule.  Here’s why, like with Amazon government buyers typically don’t search for companies, instead they search the Schedule for the stuff they need.  For example:

• They search for what they want, like “Running shoes” or “Laptop computers” 

• If they finding a few promising results and it's a small purchase then they might just buy the one that looks best

• If their purchase is a little more expensive then they can do a little comparison shopping then buy
• And if it's a decent sized purchase then they put out an RFP through the schedule for everyone to bid on

So the core of your application, and your success on Schedule, are your individual product and service listings. So the first thing I would do is to figure out what you are going to list:

• Products: Think about each product you make, distribute or otherwise sell as its own schedule application.
• Services: People talk about selling “services” through the schedule, but I think that is misleading.  If you go onto the Schedule buying portal you won’t find “Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services” or “Janitorial services” listed directly. Instead you’ll find a list of job positions, and under those job positions you’ll see a description of what the person with that job position can do.  For example:

So you need to translate everything you do into the job positions of the people doing it.  And importantly everyone with the same Position will have the same price on the Schedule.  So if you have two people working for you, that have the same title, but who make different amounts you’ll need to create different positions for them when you list them on schedule.

Selling items that aren’t on your schedule: Be thorough when you list your products and services and if you bundle things together break them apart.  For example if you run a hotel and you offer 1) rooms 2) dining 3) transportation list each of those separately.  You may think that the dining and transportation as part of the rooms but you’re better off listing and pricing each separately.

• Readiness assessment (https://vsc.gsa.gov/)
• Pathway to success (https://vsc.gsa.gov/)

• To find your SINs go HERE and on the left you will see the major categories
• Once you click on the major category that aligns to your company start looking through the sub-categories and write down the SINs that make sense for you.
• SINs are important because when you apply for the schedule you’ll list your SINs, and you’ll only get alerts when RFPs come out that are in that SIN.

Where to get the proposal instructions: go to https://beta.sam.gov/ and search for “GSA schedule” to get the latest instructions.

The application elements: The application has three major sections: 1) Admin 2) technical 3) pricing

• The Admin Section: This section contains your basic corporate information
• Balance sheet for last two years
• You NAICS and SINs
• A subcontracting plan if the applicant is a large business
• Notes on any previous GSA Schedule applications
• Other corporate information

• The Technical Section: In this section you’ll list out all the “Labor Categories” (Positions) and products that you want to be on Schedule:

• Narrative about your company
• Customer references that can speak to your performance
• Best are federal government customers
• 2nd best are state and local government customers
• 3rd best are commercial customers
• Case studies about relevant projects that you’ve done
• Your QA/QC processes
• (Product only) Discussion of how you source/create your products
• (Services) The job duties, education, and years of experience associated with each position
• Relevant letters validating the above

• The pricing section: As the name suggests the pricing section ensures that the prices you propose to the government are fair and reasonable, and to make this assessment the government looks at your pricing in two different ways:

• Comparing to commercial customers (the Commercial Sales Practices document): For this analysis the government sees whether the price you are quoting to the government are the same or lower than the lowest price you’ve charged to your commercial customers.  
• Comparing to other vendors: In this analysis the government looks at whether the price you are quoting generally align with the prices that other vendors charge for similar products and services.  
• Self-assessment: To get a sense for whether your rates are in line with other vendors go to www.gsaadvantage.gov and HERE and search for companies that do similar things.

The pricing section is the heart of the application so here are some things to keep in mind: 

How does the government decide what your lowest rates are: You might sell the same thing to different people for different amounts. You might give volume discounts, you might charge schools less than for-profit companies, or you might have had a Christmas Sale. Whatever the reason, the government expects you to match your lowest price ever.  So if you sold bikes to an orphanage on Christmas at cost then the government will want that price too.

• An exception for first sales: If you gave one-time low rates to a customer in order to “get your foot in the door” then you may not have to give those rates to the government.  But if you continue to provide those teaser rates then the government will want them too.

Additional discounts: Beyond your lowest historical price the government will want an additional discount on top of that best price, typically 10% off. 

• NOTE: While this is not part of the pricing section be aware that you are going to lose an additional ~1% due to GSA fees (more detail in the Maintenance section)

This is continuous: We will discuss this in more detail in the Maintenance section but the evaluation of your lowest price doesn't stop when you apply to the Schedule. If you offer your products and services at a lower rate after you get on Schedule then you have to update your GSA rates to reflect the new lower price.

The application changes: The government updates the application as regulations change.  So make sure you check that a newer version has not come out since you started building your application (the different versions of the proposal instructions are known as “refreshes”) so check that you have the latest refresh number before you submit your application.  For this reason we also advise that you don’t start filling in the application until you have collected everything. 

Assigning Authorized Negotiators: You can designate people outside your company to negotiate and respond to government questions on your behalf (e.g. consultants and lawyers) 

Government review: Once you have submitted your application the government will begin its review process. The amount of time they take can vary dramatically based on the application but 6 to 12 months is a reasonable planning figure. During this time expect the government to:

• Send questions about your application (try to respond to these in 24-48 hours to keep the momentum going)
• Try to negotiate lower prices, better warranties and other favorable terms above and beyond what you submitted

Published rates: Once your schedule application is approved your final rates will be published on various GSA websites.

As we’ve mentioned once you are on schedule you will have access to a new pool of government contracting opportunities, and there are a couple ways to make money through the schedule:

• Respond to RFPs: When the government decides to buy stuff through the Schedule that is in your SIN they might post an RFP to GSA E-buy, and you can write a proposal in response and potentially win.

• Respond to RFIs: The government might not want to put out an RFP that anyone on Schedule can respond to and instead reach out to a few (typically three) vendors on the schedule and ask them for a price quote, then award to one of those three

• Direct purchase: For small orders the government can  find something they want on the schedule and buy it

• Seeding your own RFP: This is a little different but it's how the pros do it.  In this approach:
  • A company with strong government relationships identifies an emerging government need
  • That company pitches their own solution to the problem
  • That company pitches that the government should compete an RFP for that need on the Schedule (reduced competition)
  • The RFP that comes out on schedule is aligned to the company’s solution
  • The company wins that mini-RFP that they seeded

While every RFP is different, typically:

Teaming and partnering: Groups of companies can come together to compete for an RFP:

• These groups are known as Contractor Teaming Agreements (CTAs)
• Each member of the team must be on schedule
• Each member of the CTA has a direct contractual relationship with the government so there is no prime or sub 

Subbing and renting someone’s Schedule: If a government customer wants to buy from you under a Schedule and you don't have the time, or want to make the Investment, to get onto Schedule yourself you can subcontract to a company which is already on Schedule. This is great in theory but tricky in practice. Here’s why:

Large business subcontracting: Large businesses have to sub roughly 30% of the work they receive through the schedule to small businesses.  So if you have a connection to a large that has not hit their target this can be a good avenue to work with them.

Debriefs: Under the Schedule the government does not have to give you a debrief if your proposal loses

Alerts: As mentioned above you will only see the RFPs that come out for your SIN

Small business set-asides: The RFP's that come out under the GSA Schedule can be set-aside for small businesses and GSA guidance encourages buyer to engage companies with set-asides when reaching out to vendors and preference them in the evaluation process.

Protesting: Losing vendors can only protest on awards above the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (for more on this see the appendix)

One of the biggest challenges of being on Schedule is the administrative headache of maintaining it:

Maintaining pricing: The government always gets your best rates.  So if you sell one of your GSA listed products or services to a customer for less than your GSA published rate you will need to go back to the government and update your prices there to reflect the new lowest rate.  

• Claw back: If the government finds out that you have sold at a lower price then they can claw back the difference between what they paid and your new low rate.

• Coordinating commercial and Schedule: If you make commercial and Schedule sales you will have to coordinate between them to ensure the commercial team lets the federal team know if they go below the GSA rate.

Paying fees: Anytime you sell something through the GSA Schedule 0.75% of that sale goes to the GSA itself. So each quarter you need to tally up all the sales you’ve made through the GSA Schedule and pay the GSA 0.75% of that.

Using it: If you are not using your GSA Schedule then the GSA can cancel it:

• In your first two years on Schedule you have to sell a total of $25,000 worth of products or services through the schedule to be in good standing

• After the first two years you have to sell $25,000 of products or services through the schedule every year. 

• $25,000 may not seem like much but keep in mind that 60% of Schedule holders don't sell anything through it.

Audit: The GSA can audit you from time to time so you will need to make sure your books are in order.

Escalating your rates: You can increase your rates if you can demonstrate that the prices you are charging to your commercial customers have increased.

Updating your Schedule: Once you’re on GSA Schedule you can add additional products and services to your Schedule. The process is similar to the initial application but faster and easier.

Renewing your Schedule: Your GSA Schedule lasts 5 years and can be renewed three times, at five years a piece for a total of 20 years. Assuming you have paid your fees and gotten clean audits there shouldn’t be any issues getting your renewals.

This guide is intended to be a primer to the GSA schedule but if you are serious about applying then I seriously recommend diving deeper and here are the best resources I found in my exploration of the Schedule:

To see what is already being sold on schedule and their pricing see here:

• Services: HERE 

• Products: HERE

Overview of the schedule:

• 209 – GSA Schedules w/Vicky Strycharske: (From the Contracting Office Podcast)
• GSA Schedule: 2021 - What's In It For You (From Jennifer Schaus)
• Risk vs Rewards  (From Jennifer Schaus)
• GSA Schedule Compliance Basics (From Jennifer Schaus)
• GSA Schedule - Pro's & Con's (From Jennifer Schaus)
• Is It The Right Tool? (From Jennifer Schaus)
• FAR Part 38 - Federal Supply Schedule Contracting (From Jennifer Schaus)

The application:

• 196 Building a Proposal Schedule (From the Contracting Office Podcast)
• Project Managing Your GSA Schedule Proposal (From Jennifer Schaus)
• Completing The Proposal (From Jennifer Schaus)
• Proposal TECHNICAL Section (From Jennifer Schaus)
• Proposal PRICING Section (From Jennifer Schaus)
• Best Practices For Post Award (From Jennifer Schaus)

Selling items through the Schedule:

• You Can’t Order Items Not Listed on the Vendor’s FSS Schedule (From the Contracting Office Podcast)
• Does Subcontractor Past Performance need to be Evaluated for FSS Procurements? (From the Contracting Office Podcast)
• Negotiating With GSA To Secure An Award (From Jennifer Schaus)

Subbing teaming, and renting a schedule

• Partnering With GSA Schedule Holders (From Jennifer Schaus)

Maintaining your schedule

• 159 Communicate Your Schedule (From Jennifer Schaus)

The way the government puts RFPs out depends on the size and complexity of the purchase and whether the price is fixed.

The content of the RFP:

• When the government is buying straightforward stuff for a fixed price: 
  • Vendors are providing a fixed price bid
  • The nature of the products and services being purchased is so clear that an SOW is not needed (e.g. buying laptops, renting cars, or tree felling services)
  • Then the government just has to provide enough information for vendors to build a bid (e.g. the volume and type of products desired, delivery location, etc)

• When the government is buying for complex stuff, or it is not a fixed price: The government has to provide a Request for Quote which include:
  • A Statement of Work (SOW): 
    • A description of work to be performed
    • Location of work
    • Period of performance
    • Deliverable schedule
    • Applicable performance standards
    • Any special requirements.
  • The evaluation criteria

How the government publishes the RFPs: