Effective Use of GSA Federal Supply Schedules

Transcription

1 Effective Use of GSA Federal Supply Schedules Barbara S. Kinosky and James S. Phillips Centre Consulting, Inc Gallows Road, Suite 650 McLean, VA (703) Centre Consulting, Inc. 2008

2 Barbara S. Kinosky, Esq. President of Centre Consulting, Inc. with over twenty years of experience in federal government contracts. Prior to starting Centre, she was the head of a government contracts practice group at a major law firm. Nationally known speaker. Has spoken at the NCMA World Congress, SBA National Conference, NIH Annual Symposium. Testified before congressional and industry panels. Co-author of Boot Camp for GSA Contracts and has taught numerous courses on all aspects of federal government contracting. She was the editor of the award winning Federal Bar Association Government Contracts Newsletter for five years and served on the panel of experts of the Washington Business Journal, where she is a guest columnist Barbara is also an experienced arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. She sits on the AAA Large Complex Case Panel. A graduate from Florida State University and George Mason University where she received her law degree and served as the Associate Editor of the Law Review

3 James S. Phillips, Esq Executive Vice President of Centre Consulting and active participant in the GSA Industry Council, nationally known expert in GSA schedules. Frequent lecturer and instructor for Centre s Federal Contracting Institute, teaching numerous courses. Some of which include Boot Camp for GSA Contracting, Essentials of GSA Compliance, and Federal Contracting Basics. Chair of the GSA Working Group of the Contract Service Association s 2005 Government Industry Task Force on Service Contracting, resulting in detailed recommendations for reforms to the Section 1423 Acquisition Advisory Panel. Presenter of ten separate presentations at the past four NCMA World Congress Conferences on Developments under T&M and IDIQ Contracts, Developments in GSA Schedule Contracting, Managing Contract Scope, The Seven Steps for Anticipating and Negating Bid Protests, and Introduction to Federal Contracting Law. Centre Team Leader in a multi-year effort to enable a large Blue Cross Blue Shield entity to establish an effective federal contracts marketing and compliance organization capable of competing for and performing extremely large dollar contracts

4 Jason Lee-Bakke Written and edited federal procurement courses and articles on GSA Schedules, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation and agency supplements; numerous Part 8 and Part 15 proposals; technical documentation for IT systems; and several iterations of KPMG s popular review of Cabinet-level agencies Performance and Accountability reports. Conducts market and regulatory research for Centre and its clients. Worked in a Big Four accounting firm's extremely high-volume contracts department, where he prepared for the firm s Industrial Operations Analyst review of its FABS, MOBIS, and IT70 Schedules

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6 The Unique Role of GSA Schedules in the Federal Market

7 The Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Program is a form of a Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC)

8 Advantages of Schedule Contracts Unlimited Size Essential Contract Terms are Pre-Negotiated Reduction in the Cost of Procurements Low Funding Fees The Schedule Contract Reflects the Contractor s Commercial Practices

9 Disadvantages of Schedule Contracts Some Government Audit Rights Diligent Administration is Required Modifications Require Time Inept Schedule Negotiations Can Be Costly

10 Federal Acquisition Service Vehicles Schedule 70 IT Products and Services MOBIS Management Services TAPS Temporary Services (small businesses only)

11 Key Attributes of FSS Contracts Open Season RFPs Open to all Long-term Up to 20 years No dollar limit on individual orders Negotiate basic terms upfront Creates a license to hunt No guarantee of business!!!!

12 Why Schedules Are Hot! Schedules shorten the contracting cycle Streamlined competition GSA ordering procedures Easier contracting commercial terms and conditions Low user fees 0.75% IFF Ordering flexibility GSA Advantage, E-Buy

13 How Much Money Is Spent off the Schedules?

14 GSA Reported FY 2007 FSS Sales in Excess of $35.7 Billion More than $16.4 billion in sales under the IT Schedule alone Schedule 70 cooperative purchases 2007 of $248.5; INPUT predicts local government purchasing of IT 70 will increase at a compound annual rate of 24.6%, surpassing $1.0 billion by Management consulting services (MOBIS), the next most popular schedule, experienced sales of $3.6 billion in FY 2007

15 FSS Sales Growth (FY ) $ Billions FY FY FY FY 99 FY 00 FY FY FY 06 FY 07 FY 04 FY 05 FY97 FY98 FY99 FY00 FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07

16 Who Has the Money?

17 Top 10 States by Procurement for (Billions) California Missouri Virginia New Jersey New Jersey, 50.9 Texas, New York, 68.0 Maryland, Massachusetts, 75.3 Texas New York Maryland Massachusetts Florida Pennsylvania Virginia, Florida, 82.5 Pennsylvania, 91.4 Missouri, 67.8 California, 231.5

18 The GSA Proposal Process

19 Open Season RFPs Unlike traditional government contracts, GSA FSS solicitations are perpetually open for the submission of offers/proposals.

20 GSA Goal = Most Favored Customer (MFC) Pricing

21 What is Required? Identifying the Applicable SINs The Completed Solicitation Document Past Performance Information Subcontracting Plan Commercial Pricing and Practices Information Delivery Terms

22 Prices Must Be Reasonable

23 How Does the Government Determine What is Reasonable? Based on What You Charge Other Customers!

24 How to Find Federal Customers

25 Primary Tools Market Research Who and What FPDS NG Fedbizopps GSA website E-buy

26 End User Versus Contracting Officer

27 Schedules Marketing Challenges Buyers don t have to widely advertise opportunities no FedBizOpps Buyers can restrict competition you have to be on their radar screen Buyers decide which vehicle to use you have to be able to supply items from your schedule or be able to team Opportunities may have extremely short time window quick responses required, often a no bid indicator

28 Questions?