1. Exploring the Vendor Support Center
We’re going to look at exploring the Vendor Support Center, go over some of the important resources that you can find there, and some tips on how to navigate the Vendor Support Center.
Laura E. Smith
Industrial Operations Analyst
Southwest Supply & Acquisition Center
February 22, 2017
Schedules 56, 66, & 73

2. Vendor Support Center
GSA’s Vendor Support Center is the central website for vendor information on the Multiple Award Schedules Program.
The VSC contains information on
Compliance
Contract Administration
Marketing
Education
Quick Links
VSC is your hub for information on the Schedule contract program, on contract compliance and administration, marketing resources, educational resources, current topics and changes and lots more.
We’ll be looking at how to navigate around the site, as well as digging in-depth on a few of the menus and areas of the VSC that I think are important to you.

3. Home page banner for current topics and important updates
Navigating the VSC
Starting from the home page, you should review the banner for information on current topics, programs, or other important updates.
Home page banner for current topics and important updates

4. Navigating the VSC
Navigating and exploring the VSC has two primary avenues – the tabs at the top right of the page, and the various quick link boxes on the bottom half of the page. There are also a couple of tips for easier navigation that I’ll show you after we go over the main points.
So if we click on the Administrative tab in the top right of the screen we’ll get a pop-up menu that looks like this:

5. Navigating the VSC
Now depending on what information you’re looking for, you can select the area you need. If you want to find out who your new IOA is that’s assigned to your contract, then you’d click on the ACO/IOA Locator under the Contract Management section of the Administration menu.
Or if you want to see more in-depth information on each section, click on the section heading. For example, if we click on Contract Management, that will take us to:

6. Navigating the VSC
This page, where you can read a summary for each subject under the Contract Management section. You’ll find similar information under each menu and each menu section.

7. Navigating the VSC
There is a site map on the VSC that’s actually pretty well organized and easy to read, so if you want to see all of the menus and all of the sections together on one page, you’ll can go through the site map at the very bottom of the main page. Click and it will go here…..

8. Navigating the VSC
We’ll do a live demonstration in a few minutes, but for now, this is just the screen shot for the top section of that site map, and you can see it’s pretty easy to read.
One trick is that this page is searchable and you can use the standard “Ctrl+F” or “find” function in your browser to search for key words.

9. Navigating the VSC
Another method, other than the menus or site map, for navigating the VSC is using the quick link boxes on the bottom half of the main page. You’ve got the Vendor Toolbox, eTools registration under “Already on Schedule,” the GSA Advantage and SIP links, the stay connected links for sites for GSA’s official account on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and GSA Interact (which if you haven’t visited Interact yet, I definitely recommend), and then you have the super important “Popular Pages” box. I want to look at that one a little closer. So if you were to click on the Popular Pages ‘view all’ button you’d have a pop up box that looks like this….

10. Navigating the VSC
You have the 72a sales report link, ASAP (which is the GSA Advantage Spend Analysis – a report on GSA Adv sales), FedBizOpps, eMod, Advantage, eBuy, the mass modifications page, SAM and lots of others that you will need either all the time or at least at some point during the year.
**If you are on Schedule 73 and are part of the Transactional Data Reporting pilot program, or TDR, you’ll want to note that the link for the FAS Sales Reporting portal is not on this expanded list. For some reason, it’s only listed in the Quick Link box on the Home page. There’s also links elsewhere on the VSC for TDR, which I’ll be going over in a few minutes.

11. Navigating the VSC
Staying under these quick link boxes, I want to call your attention to the “Can’t Find What You’re Looking For?” Box. Click the “get help now” button and that will take you to this page

12. Navigating the VSC
That lists and describes the GSA personnel you will work with on your Schedule contract. It describes the position and responsibilities, and tells you how to find their contact information. This is only the top half of the “Who do I deal with?” page, and the other information further down this page

13. Navigating the VSC
TDR FAS Sales Reporting System
Describes the responsibilities for each role, so that you have a better idea of who to contact with your question….

14. Menus In-depth
Now I’d like to take a closer look at the options under each menu. If you’d like more information on maybe getting a second Schedule contract, you’ll want to take a look at the “I Want a Contract” section at the top and the “Vendor Toolbox” section in the middle of the main page. These will walk you through the various aspects of getting a new contract, including considerations of what schedule may be right for you.

15. Menus In-depth
The next tab, for the “All Things Green” section, will provide you with more information if you’re interested in sustainable acquisition, or green purchasing, which products and services are applicable, what’s in it for you and how to get started, as well as how to market green products and services. And I do think this information would be of interest for quite a few of our contractors, like those that have products on contract with environmental attributes that you need to advertise on GSA Advantage. You’ll find information on that under the All Things Green menu.

16. Menus In-depth
Under the marketing tab, you’ll find in-depth information about Getting on GSA Advantage, including SIP information, how to get your file on GSA Advantage, why you need a price list, and hints or tips. For Exposure and Bidding, you’ll find a few links related to the GSA logo, your contract price list, eBuy, Reverse Auctions, and FedBizOpps. And under Market Research, there’s some interesting information on building customer profiles for your Schedule contract, a link for the Marketing Interact Group, who can purchase from Schedule contracts, a link for the Federal Procurement Data System or FPDS, GSA’s Forecast of Contracting Opportunities, and a few others I’d recommend that you explore. And don’t pass over the “Additional Internet Resources” because there’s quite a bit more information buried there.

17. Menus In-depth
Under the super duper, all-important Administration tab, I may be a little biased since some of this is kind of near and dear to my heart, you’ll find information on modifications, on your contract reporting requirements, on contract management and on compliance. I very much encourage you to explore this menu and if you have any questions – please do reach out to someone, such as your contracting officer or your IOA (me).
Under modifications, you definitely want to take note of the How to Request a Modification, which links to schedule specific information on mod requirements. Other important information on eMod, mass modifications, and digital certificates. If you haven’t checked it lately, make sure that your digital certificate and Authorized Negotiators are up-to-date, because you will need that certificate for almost any actions related to your contract, including reporting sales and modifications.
The Contractor Reporting Requirements section has good information on reporting requirements and links to reporting system, along with information on determining if a sale is reportable under your GSA contract.
The Compliance section has information on a number of compliance areas that your IOA will review during your contract assessment, including Scope, TAA, Basis of Award, as well as information on the Assessment process and the Assessment Report itself. If you have any questions on this, please don’t hesitate to contact your IOA. And if you aren’t sure who your assigned IOA is, remember you can find that link in the popular pages box on the main page, or Look! It’s in the next section here on Contract Management. What a great segue.
If you don’t look at anything else on this page, please do take a look the link for “Day 1 with my new GSA contract.” That page really does compile so much good information and guidance for management and navigating your GSA contract. It can sometimes be overwhelming, but you’ve got some great information here. Also worth noting is the link for Who do I deal with from GSA. That tells you who handles what areas related to your GSA contract, their title, and how to find their contact information. The information found here is really useful whether you’re a brand new contract holder or you have a new sales rep or contract administrator that comes on board.

18. Menus In-depth
Under the Education tab, you’ll find links for educational guidance, the never ending acronyms and abbreviations that the government uses, information on which customers are eligible to use the Schedules (a very good reference), links to GSA Interact, upcoming events and training, and several other helpful resources. For Specific Audiences, you may want to visit the Office of Small Business Utilization, which is GSA’s small business office and a very helpful resource, small business training, and information on other special types of contracting – such as other contracting vehicles within GSA, a variety of state and local purchasing, and information on BPAs and Contractor Teaming Arrangements.

19. Menus In-depth
You’ve stuck with me so far, so for those of you that I haven’t put to sleep, I’m going to share a little tip on navigating these menus. When you click on one of the menu tabs at the top of the home screen, you get one of these pop-up boxes. Then you click on whatever your interest is, say you want to know about the eMod system. You click on the eMod link and it takes you to the eMod page, but then you realize that’s not what you really wanted, you need the mass modification page, so you hit your back button on your computer. But instead of bringing you right back here to this pop-up menu, it takes you back to the home page.

20. Menus In-depth
here, where you have to start from the beginning. So the tip is, once you click on the menu tab at the top, and you get this pop up menu….

21. Menus In-depth
Instead of clicking on the specific topic you need, click on the section heading, such as Modifications. That will bring you to a screen like this.

22. Menus In-depth
where you’ll be able to read the descriptions of each topic under the Modification section and decide where you need to go. If you click on eMod, but then realize you actually needed the mass mod page and hit your back button, it will bring you right back to this menu. This may seem fairly irrelevant, but if you’re exploring the Vendor Support Center, you’ll get tired of clicking a menu then hitting your back button and having to start from the beginning. So say you want to look at the full Administrative menu again, instead of clicking at the top tab for the pop-up menu, you can click this link for the Administrative menu circled in red here….

23. Menus In-depth
It will bring you back to the full Administrative Menu on a page of it’s own. Not the pop-up menu. So you can click a topic, hit the back button, and come right back here and keep exploring. That comes in really handy.

24. Menus In-depth
Another option, from the pop up menu, if you don’t want only the modification section but want to see the full Administrative menu on its own page, you can click on the Menu name at the top

25. Menus In-depth
It will also take you to the full Administrative page. That comes in really handy.

26. TDR & FPT SIP to FPT Transition Training
I’d like to point out a couple of resources for those you on Schedule 73, or who may have another schedule, who are currently or will be participating in the pilots for Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) and Formatted Product Tool (FPT).
For the Formatted Product Tool, under the Marketing Menu, you can find a link to the SIP to FPT Transition page, which will offer you a recorded webinar on the transition, as well as an extensive offering of Facts, Questions, and Answers on the process and requirements in using FPT.
[clink link, demonstrate page]
SIP to FPT Transition Training

27. TDR & FPT SIP to FPT Transition Training
You can also find a link to the FPT Transition page through the Getting on Advantage quick link box on the VSC home page, if you click on the View More button.
[demonstrate FPT Quick Links from View More button]
SIP to FPT Transition Training

28. TDR & FPT FAS (TDR) Sales Reporting Portal
For those of you participating in the TDR (or Transactional Data Reporting) pilot, to access the FAS Sales Reporting portal, you can access that system from the Popular Pages quick link box on the VSC home page. But not if you click on View All. For some reason that pop up hasn’t been updated, but I have passed on that information to the folks that handle those updates, so hopefully that will be corrected soon. So from the Popular Pages box, ONLY from the Quick Link box, although you can find that page in a few other menu places on the site.
You WILL need your digital certificate to access that reporting site.
[demonstrate TDR portal from VSC]
FAS (TDR) Sales Reporting Portal

29. TDR & FPT TDR-72a to FAS Transition Page
From the Administrative menu page, you can access the 72a to FAS Sales Reporting transition page, which will have an extensive amount of information and resources for you, including a recorded webinar and more than 100 questions and answers regarding the program.
[demonstrate click on TDR Transition Page]
TDR-72a to FAS Transition Page

30. TDR Points of Note Reporting Changes
Reports are completed MONTHLY, as opposed to quarterly
Increase in data fields and method of sales reporting – from summary data to line item detail
Revenue recognition is only at invoice or payment dates
Report exact figures – no more rounding
Eliminates Price Reductions Clause tracking & Commercial Sales Practice requirements
Payment changes
IFF must be submitted electronically. Paper checks no longer accepted
Payments may be submitted monthly OR quarterly
Reporting Changes
-Reports are completed MONTHLY, as opposed to quarterly – still due by the 30th day after the reporting period
-Increase in data fields and method of sales reporting – from summary data to line item detail
-Revenue recognition is only at invoice or payment dates
-Report exact figures – no more rounding
Eliminates Price Reductions Clause tracking & Commercial Sales Practice requirements
Payment changes
-IFF must be submitted electronically. Paper checks no longer accepted
-Payments may be submitted monthly OR quarterly

31. Summary and Tips Find topics using Subject Menus (top right of screen)
Find topics using the Quick Link boxes
Find topics using Subject Menus
I Want A Contract
All Things Green
Marketing
Administration
Education
Find topics using the Quick Link boxes
Vendor Toolbox
Register for eTools
Get Help Now button
Getting on Advantage
Popular Pages
Stay Connected

32. Summary and Tips
Use individual topic links under menu subjects

33. Summary and Tips
Click on the Subject heading for the full menu page with topic descriptions

34. Summary and Tips
Use the “menu pages” to avoid backtracking or starting from the beginning

35. Summary and Tips
Browse or search the Site Map page

36. Summary and Tips Links to TDR FAS Sales Reporting Portal
Links to TDR Transition Page (Info & Training)

37. Live Demonstration Live Demonstration of the Vendor Support Center
Site Map
Quick Links Boxes
IOA/ACO Locator – Contract/IOA Reassignment
Top Right Corner Menu Tabs
Live Demo
-site map
-quick link boxes – IOA/ACO Locator Locator
Administration
-Contract Mgmt/IOA/ACO locator – discuss transition reassignment
-Modification/How to Request a Modification
-Contract Mgmt/Day 1 with my GSA contract
Marketing
-SIP to FPT Transition Training
-Additional Internet Resources
Education

38. Questions? Laura E. Smith Industrial Operations Analyst (IOA)
GSA, Federal Acquisition Service
Southwest Supply & Acquisition Center
(817)
-Ask contractors if they have suggestions or requests for VSC content.
-Questions or live demo requests