Top 5 Reasons Vendors Risk Losing Their GSA Schedule

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GSA is making a lot of changes to federal schedules programs.  They are now becoming more firm with the terms in terminating a vendors contract.  There was a time when you were allowed much more time to make improvements, or correct a concern that GSA had with a vendors contract.  There were even times that if a vendor was instructed to make improvements and they still had not made the improvements within the specified timeframe, GSA still allowed the contractor additional time to make improvements.

Those days are long gone and GSA is becoming what my mentor calls, “Fiscally responsible for their business”.  Between 2014 and 2015 I have had an influx of vendors coming to me for help in reversing the termination of their contract. The sad part is a large portion of the terminations could have been avoided if only the vendor were serious enough about the up keep of the contract.  If you want to keep your GSA contract you had better abide by the terms and conditions by doing a thorough maintenance at least twice a month. The best time to start that process is NOW.

I want to give you the, “Top 5 Reasons Vendors Risk Losing Their GSA Schedule”:

  1. Non payment of IFF-  At the end of each quarter all GSA schedule holders are responsible for timely payment of their Industrial Funding Fee.  Typically you have fifteen days after the end of the quarter to make payment.  Anytime after that date will be a strike against you.
  2. Late Sales Reporting-  At the end of each quarter GSA contract holders are responsible for reporting sales.  This also applies even if you have made no sales under the contract. If you are continually late reporting your sales then you may run the risk of losing your contract.
  3. Termination for Convenience-  Sometimes a contract can be terminated based on the fact that the government no longer has a need for the supply or service.  If that is the case a Termination for Convenience, or T for  C will be issued.  This type of termination will not incur a strike against the contractor.
  4. Pricelist-  If you make any modifications to the contract such as rate changes, name changes, naics codes, contract numbers; then you should reflect those changes to your pricelist.  It is possible of having your contract terminated if a vendor continually neglects to update the pricelist.
  5. No Sales-  The terms of a GSA contract require that you maintain at least $25k in sales within the first two years of the contract, and $25k in sales every year thereafter.  Some vendors will get the GSA contract and believe they don’t have to market it, which is not true.  Not marketing the GSA contract leaves the vendor without any GSA sales.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR WEBSITE? You can as long as you include the following with it:

“Ilene Giles is an expert with GSA federal schedules and its processes and she has helped placed contractors on the path to winning more federal business with a GSA federal schedule. Get her FREE CD “Top 3 Things You Should Know When Applying for a GSA Contract” at www.GSAProposalMaven.com”