7 Key Steps To Qualify For A GSA Contract

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There are stages in the GSA requirement process that each applicant must abide by before receiving award of a contract, this post will be focusing on the pre-proposal requirement stage.   At the pre proposal stage you want to make sure the required registrations are complete in its entirety and most importantly you want to ensure that you in fact qualify for a GSA contract.  Take a look at 7 key steps that can get you on the road to qualifying for a GSA contract.

  1. The first step is getting a DUNS number. For some of you that don’t know what a DUNS number is a DUNS Number is a nine digit number that refers the government to your business, that information is managed by Dun & Bradstreet.  This number is also used to monitor your company’s credit.  GSA sometimes refers to a vendors D&B report to determine contract award.  If you would like to get a DUNS number it is free to every business.
  1. The next step is get registered in system for award management which is better know as SAM.  The newly created SAM is a free one step process for completing registrations.  SAM is used by the government to validate information in support of all agency procurements.  After you complete the registration you must maintain updates each year if you want to continue to do business with the government, so keep your registrations updated.  This service is also free and you can register with SAM at https://www.sam.gov/.
  1. Hopefully you already have a tax ID number, if not you need to get one.  To get one immediately you can call the IRS and register over the phone, or online.  This is a free service.

After your registrations are completed you can move to the next step of the requirement process, which are GSA specific, take a look at what they are:

  1. You must have maintained at least twenty five thousand dollars in yearly sales for the previous two years of business. This does not mean twenty five thousand dollars combined, this means twenty five thousand dollars in total sales for each separate year.
  1. You must have performed at least two consistent years of business in the labor category that you are interested in applying for.
  1. If you offer products they are required to be in compliance with the Trade Agreements Act, and in some cases the Buy American Act (See FAR 52.225-5).
  1. All products and services offered must be commercially available. This means all items that you sell must be available to everyone who wants purchase.

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