Today GSA, Tomorrow the World

GSA Schedules are taking over the world! OK, maybe not the whole world, but certainly the world of federal government contracting. GSA Schedules are exponentially expanding their scope of coverage, flexibility and importance. They have filled the void left after RFPs and IFBs went to the wayside in the wake of procurement reform.

The dollar value of GSA Schedule orders is increasing by a billion dollars annually. In 1996, a total of $2,500,000,000 of goods and services were ordered under GSA Schedules. By 1998, that figure grew to $4,500,000,000. For the 1999 fiscal year just closed, GSA expects the total value of GSA Schedule orders to swell by billions.

Just a few years ago, GSA Schedules were still the province of stand-alone hardware, accessories and maintenance/repair services. GSA Schedules were useful, but narrow in their scope and application to anything but stand-alone hardware. The Price Reduction and Maximum Order Limitation clauses, and CBD publication requirements, limited an agency’s flexibility when using GSA Schedules. Mega Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts, such as the Air Force’s Desktop contracts, also competed with GSA Schedules.

Then Congress streamlined the procurement process, making it easier for agencies to buy what they want, and downsized procurement personnel, making it harder for agencies to draft specifications, evaluate proposals, and select sources through RFPs, even if an agency still wanted to.

In stepped GSA Schedules. In a stroke of brilliance, GSA decided not just to push the use of GSA Schedules instead of RFPs, IFBs, and IDIQs. Instead, GSA started both relaxing several key clauses governing use of GSA Schedules while simultaneously expanding what GSA Schedules offer agencies. Slowly at first, GSA ditched the CBD publication requirement, eased the Maximum Order Limitation and revised the Price Reduction clause, all of which made buying and selling under a GSA Schedule easier for both agencies and contractors alike. Rolling open seasons soon made it easier for contractors to obtain Schedule contracts. Next, GSA added services to the giant Group 70 Information Technology (IT) Schedule, and then added leasing. All of a sudden, agencies could lease hardware when straight buying was a problem, and could order services to meld the hardware, software, and peripherals into a functioning network.

Not to be left behind, the GSA’s Philadelphia regional office recently expanded the Group 58 Audio-Video Products Schedule to provide for leasing and services. An agency can now buy or lease the Audio-Video products it needs and order the services necessary to design and install a working suite.

In the meantime, the GSA Schedule Services division has embarked on an ambitious plan to expand the type and range of services that an agency can order under a GSA Schedule. A wide variety of media, engineering, clerical, and financial services are now available, or will soon be available. The Group 738 Media Services Schedule provides for videotape and film production services. Now agencies can not only buy video equipment on Schedule, they can buy training tapes and Public Service Announcements.

Here's a sampling, a menu, of what agencies can order under today's GSA Schedules:

Group 58 Audio Video Products Schedule

• Recording and reproducing audio and video equipment
• Monitors and receivers
• Television cameras
• Audio equipment
• Switching equipment and telecommunications equipment
• Leasing
• Services, including design, development, and installation

Group 738 Media Services Schedule

• Public education media services
• Videotape and film production services
• Trade show and conference planning services
• Radio and television Public Service Announcements
• Photography services
• Graphic design
• Media analysis
• Web site design and maintenance

Group 70 IT Schedule

• Computer hardware and software
• Network devices
• Telecommunications equipment
• Internet equipment and services
• Leasing
• Training

Services, including software programming, Web site development, technical support services, and disaster recovery

If a contractor’s GSA Schedule doesn’t provide a complete solution for an agency, the contractor can team with a second (or third) GSA Schedule contractor to offer a total package. Or, if an agency wants to make it easier for its branch offices to buy a contractor’s GSA Schedule products, the agency can enter into a GSA Schedule Blanket Purchase Agreement.

There you have it. Not your grandfather’s GSA Schedule, or even your father’s. Today’s GSA Schedule: Don’t leave your office without it.