Skyway Insight© Webinar Training From Contracting Officers

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Shelley Hall << Record >> 32 years in Department of Defense (retired Nov 2015) USAF (AFMC and AFSPC) Held unlimited Contracting Officer’s warrant for 23 years Community Relations and Content Manager for Skyway Expertise in services and supplies, Federal Supply Schedules, pre-and post-award, simplified acquisition to large dollar technically complex source selections, Foreign Military Sales, and commercial and non-commercial << Record >>

Skyway Insight© Webinar Training From Contracting Officers Topic: Part 10: Taking the Mystery Out of GSA Schedules Host: Shelley Hall

Agenda How Did GSA Begin? GSA and the FAR What is a GSA schedule? Getting a GSA Schedule Getting Orders Policy Speedbumps GSA and NAICS Codes GSA CAVs – What Happens AFTER I get on a GSA contract? Final Thoughts

How Did GSA begin? In 1947 President Harry Truman asked former President Herbert Hoover to lead a commission to make recommendations to reorganize the operations of the federal government. One of the recommendations of the commission was the establishment of an "Office of the General Services." This proposed office combined the services of the Treasury Department’s Bureaus of Federal Supply and Office of Contract Settlement; the National Archives; all functions of the Federal Work Agency (including Public Buildings and Roads administration), and the War Assets Administration. GSA became an independent agency of the US Government on July 1, 1949, after the passage of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act. General Jess Larson, Administrator of the War Assets Administration, was named GSA's first Administrator. The first job awaiting Administrator Larson and the newly formed GSA was a complete renovation of the White House, which had fallen into disrepair.

GSA and the FAR FAR 8.4 covers Federal Supply Schedules (GSA schedules) For DOD agencies using GSA schedules, there is additional guidance in DFARS 208.4 Be aware that they may also be agency supplements that contain policy and regulations on GSA schedules.

What is a GSA Schedule? The Federal Supply Schedule program (aka the GSA Schedules Program or the Multiple Award Schedule Program) is directed and managed by the General Services Administration (GSA) It provides Federal agencies with a simplified process for obtaining commercial supplies and services at prices associated with volume buying Indefinite delivery contracts are awarded to provide supplies and services at stated prices for given periods of time GSA may delegate certain responsibilities to other agencies (e.g., GSA has delegated authority to the VA to procure medical supplies under the VA Federal Supply Schedules program)

What is a GSA Schedule (cont’d) GSA schedule contracts require schedule contractors to publish an “Authorized Federal Supply Schedule Pricelist, which contains all supplies and services offered by a schedule contractor Each pricelist contains the pricing and the terms and conditions pertaining to each Special Item Number that is on schedule Schedule contractor is required to provide 1 copy of its pricelist to ordering activity upon request (add a link to your GSA schedule on your website) FAR 8.4, together with the pricelists, contain necessary information for placing delivery or task orders with schedule contractors

Getting a GSA Schedule If you are thinking about getting a GSA schedule, I recommend you read through this helpful page on Getting Started with GSA Schedules It asks all the hard questions Is it a fit for your company? Do you have the time? Do you have the resources? Can you compete with other schedule prices?

Getting Orders e-Buy is GSA's electronic Request for Quotation (RFQ) system which allows ordering activities to post requirements, obtain quotes, and issue orders electronically. Posting an RFQ on e-Buy— Is one way to provide fair notice to all schedule contractors offering such supplies and services required by 8.405-1, 8.405-2, and 8.405-3; and Is required when an order contains brand-name specifications (see 8.405-6).

Searching GSA GSA eLibrary is the best place to start any kind of search on GSA. You can search by: GSA schedule number Contract name Keywords

Policy Speedbumps Although FAR Part 19, does not apply to FSS orders, many agencies have created internal policy whereby COs must incorporate small business set asides/considerations into competitive GSA order awards. Although FAR Part 8.4 states that FSS contract pricing has already determined to be “fair and reasonable”, many agencies have created internal policy to require additional pricing documentation of FSS orders.

Policy Speedbumps (cont’d) On 31 Jul 15, DPAP issued the “Proper Use of GSA FSS Contracts” memo. This memo includes the following guidance to government contracting personnel: Maximize competition Seek discounts Document a price fair and reasonableness determination (the memo specifically says “DOD ordering activities cannot rely on GSA’s price reasonableness determination alone”.)

Policy Speedbumps (cont’d) Many agencies feel that the price GSA negotiates should be lower. Most government managers look at GSA prices as the “starting point” to negotiate final pricing.

Policy Speedbumps (cont’d) GSA launched a new tool to make it easier for agencies to figure out hourly rates for various labor categories. The Contract Awarded Labor Category (CALC) (https://calc.gsa.gov/) tool allows COs to conduct market research and price analysis across awarded prices on 48,000 labor categories from more than 5,000 GSA contracts.

Policy Speedbumps (cont’d) Federal Register/Vol. 80, No. 240/Tuesday, December 15, 2015 issued the final rule on Transactional Data Reporting for GSA Requires vendors to report transactional data from orders and prices paid by ordering activities. Includes orders placed against both FSS and GSA’s non- FSS contract vehicles, Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and Multi-Agency Contracts (MACs) Provides Federal agencies with market intelligence and expert guidance in procuring goods and services in each category of GSA acquisition vehicles (new requirement will not affect VA FSS contract holders).

Policy Speedbumps (cont’d) Federal Register/Vol. 80, No. 240/Tuesday, December 15, 2015 issued the final rule on Transactional Data Reporting for GSA (cont’d) Contractors are concerned that their pricing information would be compromised under this new process and want to know how their pricing information would be shared and accessed. Contractors are also worried that it will be expensive and costly to provide these data and asked how much it might cost for the systems they would have to build to collect the information required under the rule.

Policy Speedbumps - Result There are so many alternative options available to federal contracting agencies, so there is no longer much to make Federal Supply schedules more attractive than a multitude of other acquisition options. In addition, often those other options (GWACs, MACs, etc.) result in lower pricing for the same items/services. Computer peripherals – GSA vs. GWAC vs. FedBid vs. open market

GSA and NAICS Codes A Contracting Officer (CO) should designate the NAICS code which best describes the principal purpose of the product or service being acquired. For GSA Schedule task orders, however, a CO’s choices may be limited and the “best” NAICS code might not be chosen. SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) decision in NAICS Appeal of Global Dynamics, LLC, SBA No. NAICS-5470 (2013) involved a VA solicitation for a task under Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) 621-I (Professional and Allied Healthcare Staffing Services).

GSA and NAICS Codes (cont’d) The VA set aside the task order procurement for small businesses, and designated NAICS code 621399 (Offices of All Other Miscellaneous Health Practitioners), with a corresponding $7M size standard. However, after discovering that NAICS code 561320 (Temporary Help Services) is the only NAICS code available under FSS 621-I, the CO changed the NAICS code to 561320, which carries a $13.5M size standard. Global Dynamics (GD) filed a NAICS code appeal with SBA OHA. In their decision, the SBA OHA wrote that a procuring agency “ordinarily must designate the NAICS code which best describes the principal purpose of the product or service being acquired . . .”  SBA OHA’s use of the word “ordinarily” is important since “SBA regulations recognize an exception to this general rule for orders placed under the FSS and other long-term contracts.”  For these orders, under 13 C.F.R. 121.404(g)(3)(iv), “the NAICS code and size standard assigned to the order must correspond to a NAICS code and size standard assigned to the underlying long-term contract.”

GSA and NAICS Codes (cont’d) In this case, “NAICS code 561320 is the only NAICS code available on the underlying Schedule 621-I.” Accordingly, “. . . the CO did not err in selecting NAICS code 561320.” In fact, the CO had no discretion, because no other NAICS codes were available under the underlying FSS contract. SBA OHA denied the NAICS code appeal. The Global Dynamics NAICS code appeal decision illustrates an important exception to the ordinary rule that the “best” NAICS code must be designated. When it comes to GSA Schedule orders, the NAICS code chosen must be one designated for the underlying Schedule contract even if it is not necessarily the best fit for the particular goods or services to be procured under the solicitation.

GSA CAVs – What Happens AFTER I get on a GSA contract? GSA sends out an Industrial Operations Analyst (IOA) to offer help AND check up on you in what they call Contractor Assistance Visits (CAV). A typical review will take 2 - 5 hours depending on the complexity of the tracking system. Follow-up visits may be necessary if they find inconsistencies. The IOA will ask a variety of questions, review samples of GSA and non-GSA sales records, and answer any questions you may have. After this meeting, the IOA reports their findings to the Contracting Officer (CO) based on criteria set forth in a Contractor Report Card. Audits are initially conducted in the first 12 months after contract award and again 42-48 months into your contract performance. This review ensures you have an adequate sales tracking system. The system should include supporting documentation to substantiate the sales data you submitted. The second audit is critical because they expect you to be in full compliance. If not, you can lose your contract, be required to adjust pricing, incur fines, or receive claims for recovering funds. If any critical element is deficient, it is considered grounds for cancellation or non-renewal. How we helped a client with this.

Sample Contractor Report Card https://vsc.gsa.gov/administration/files/repo rtcard.pdf

GSA CAVs – What Happens AFTER I get on a GSA contract? (cont’d) To prepare for a CAV, have the following documents ready: Standard Form 1449, Final Proposal Revision, CSP-1 disclosures, current GSA Pricelist, and any modification (SF30 documents) that might have been awarded. Also, pull sales records for selected GSA and commercial (non-GSA) sales for a certain time period. The IOA will compare your Schedule contract invoices with those from your "Most Favored Customer" group. This is to ensure you have not offered those customers lower prices than those offered to GSA. If you did offer better pricing to your “most favored customer” group and didn't notify your CO, you may be subject to a fine or your company will be forced to lower your GSA Schedule prices. Note that the IOA is permitted to look at any invoice from your “most favored customer” group but not invoices from customers that are outside that group.

GSA CAVs – What Happens AFTER I get on a GSA contract? (cont’d) If there are concerns that exist after the CAV, the CO will give you the opportunity to correct these issues. GSA COs use the report cards to help make the decision whether to extend your contract, so make sure to correct any concerns quickly. The CAV report and report card are two of the many factors used by your CO to determine whether or not to exercise option periods. Some GSA schedule holders have lost their contract due to failure to meet report card requirements. Also, if your sales are less than $25,000, you may receive a warning. GSA has the right to drop you as a contractor if you are not meeting the contract minimum of $25,000 in annual sales.

Final notes GSA was developed as a simplified way for government contracting offices to buy commercial supplies and services Regulations and policies have made using GSA less attractive to government buyers It’s a process to get a GSA schedule and then another process to keep one GSA schedules were never designed to offer the best price! Only you can decide if a GSA schedule is right for your company Skyway can assist with this decision

Register for our upcoming webinars Need more help? Shelley Hall - shelley.hall@skywayacquistion.com Register for our upcoming webinars 11/5/2015