What is this GSA Schedule anyway?

What is this GSA Schedule anyway?

Well lets’ start with the GSA.

The GSA is the General Services Administration. Without going into too much detail and history it was formed in ’49 by President Truman to be the purchasing agency or business manager for the Federal Government.

It’s main purpose is to be the frugal purchaser for the Federal Government. Actually it was originally formed to liquidate Federal Properties, but it’s first job was the renovation of the White House.

As a matter of fact the lead engineer on the project said “the only thing holding up the White House is pride.”

But it has since evolved into the purchasing agency or business manager for the Federal Government.

For all you Federal Government experts out there, I know this is an over-simplification. But lets’ keep it simple for those fresh on the scene.

First off, the definition of Schedule to be used here is not the one related to time tables and clocks. The definition to use would be a list of like things. In this case, companies, products, and services.

Now, the GSA Schedule is basically a list of preferred vendors who have been pre-vetted, pre-approved, have pre-negotiated pricing, fixed pricing, and have offered most favored pricing. Don’t get all freaked out about the fixed pricing. There are several ways to ‘fix’ a price. So, let’s get past that.

Essentially for our purposes, the Federal Purchasing Agent does business in two different ways. First they look to the GSA Schedule to find someone who is already locked and loaded to sell directly to the Federal Government. Otherwise they have to go to bid. They put out opportunities with RFP’s to different vendors that are registered to do business on the open market with the Federal Government (i.e. CCR, ORCA, etc.).

Then they have to go through each of those to find the one who fits the bill. Then they have to negotiate pricing. Then they have to get that company approved to provide the service or product for that opportunity and ONLY that opportunity. Sound like a pain?

It is. For both the vendor AND the purchasing agent. Thus the beauty of the GSA Schedule.

The GSA Schedule answers some basic questions for the GSA.

How long have you been in business?
Can you provide what you say you can provide?
Can you stay in business long enough to support your product or service?
Are on the up and up?
Can you give me your best price?
Can I expect to pay an agreed upon price from here on out (with minimal changes)?

It is really not much more complicated than that. The GSA is not in the business of turning away people who want to do business with them. It’s not some secret club with handshakes and passwords.

They want to do business with small and medium sized businesses just like yours.

They just want to make DANG sure you are someone they want to do business with.

Thus the reason for the GSA Schedule and the outrageously long application process (or Solicitation) as they call it.

So how long does this relationship last? Well, if all goes well, 20 years.

So in essence what is a GSA Schedule Contract? A 20 year relationship with the Federal Government as a preferred vendor.

Pretty cool huh?

Michael Graves
813-343-7017 Ext. 267
michaelg@gsa1000.com

There Is No Magic Bullet People

Whenever I ask a client what they expect from their GSA Schedule once awarded, the usual first answer is ‘Federal Government Business’ or something to that nature.

The truth is, if you are a Schedule Holder, you will get business. However, here is the proverbial ‘BUT’.

DO NOT I repeat DO NOT expect orders to start rolling in. Granted they could and in numerous cases they do. But don’t EXPECT it.

Taken at a 50,000 foot elevated view, there really is no difference between the Federal market and the Commercial market.

Think about it. The Government is made up of people just like you and me. We buy the same things. Computers, drywall, personnel, toner, boxes, air conditioners, plumbing , lumber, furniture, window treatments, etc., etc., etc.

Let’s not forget services. Engineers, Project Management, Energy Management (especially now), IT consultants, marketing, graphic design, construction, lawn care, etc. etc.

At the end of the day the whole shebang is people buying from people those things that people need. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.

So why would you expect any other dynamic when advertising and marketing your service to the Federal Government.

What would happen if you went down to the state and registered a new business, got your FEIN, listed an address with the State and City, maybe even joined your local Chamber of Commerce and then went home and just sat in front of the telephone?

Unless you have a product or service where you were the sole provider and it was in huge public demand, the only thing you could probably expect would be the phone bill.

When you opened your doors for business, is that what you did? If you are a successful business owner, I know you didn’t. You got the word out. You put an ad in the paper. You contacted potential customers. You cultivated relationships and served your clients well. You went out loud and found clients, who once they knew of you, started doing business with you.

Now why would you expect anything different from the Federal Purchasing Agent. Not to mention that they are looking through the added layer of red tape to find their vendors and service providers.

Your commercial customer finds you or you find them. They like and need what you have. They buy it. They might have to go through their own purchasing policy to do so, but I can guarantee you it is nothing like what the Federal Purchasing Agent must go through.

It would be like comparing someone buying a birdhouse at Home Depot to someone getting their first mortgage to buy a home (in TODAY’S market!!).

So how could anyone expect that getting onto GSA Schedule is the only step in opening their doors to boat loads of Federal business?

Granted, getting onto Schedule is the first and BIGGEST step in developing a long term and highly lucrative business relationship with the Federal Government. But it is only a step.

Once your in (if you get in) the GSA Schedule door, you have essentially bypassed the Federal Purchasers red tape for them. You are a bright breath of fresh air to them.

But there is no way for them to breath in the greatness that is your GSA Schedule Contract if they don’t even know you exist!

There is no magic bullet here people. But if you want to develop and do business with the Federal Government as a preferred vendor, then the GSA Schedule is the closest thing you are going to get.

Should you get on? If you want to business with the Feds, the answer is YES.

But don’t expect to be Daddy Warbucks picking out a red headed orphan to sing show tunes with if you don’t DO something with your Schedule once you have it.

Magic bullet? no. Magic gun? If you point it in the right direction and pull the trigger, yes.

Don’t go there!!

The Director of GSA Processing here tells me that it is not a good idea to take clients to the GSA eLibrary page because they can find the forms that make a client think they can do the GSA process themselves.

Well, considering that 345,000 applications were downloaded off the site in 2008 and less than 3000 of those apps were actually finished and submitted, I’m not worried.  Not to mention, it’s unknown how many (if any) of those were actually approved and award a contract.

I personally tell all my clients (especially those who are tight on cash) that they can do it themselves.  But also to consider it is NOT something to go into lightly.  When our team is done, the application actually measures roughly 5 – 8 inches high.  Who knows how many pages that is, but I’m guessing somewhere around 500 – 750.

So I have no problem taking my clients to the GSA eLibrary.  But I only do it for ONE reason.

Proof of concept.

Irrefutable proof that we do what we say we do.   It is a simple process.  Kind of like a treasure hunt!  Ready?

1.   Go to www.gsapreview.com/testimonials.html and look to the right side of the page.  You will see floating icon/links to scanned letterhead testimonials.  Choose one.

 2.  Next open a completely separate window and go to www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov.

 3.  Look in the middle of that GSA owned and operated website and find the words “View an Alphabetical Listing of available Contractors”.

 4.  Click on that link and find the name of the contractor in the testimonial.  Keep in mind the testimonial is a scanned letter directly from the client.

 5.  Click on the contractor’s name and look at their GSA Contract Number.

 6.  Look in the Testimonial and see the GSA Contract Number they are thanking us for helping them with.  That is proof we did that contract award application process.

Now wasn’t that fun?!?!?!?  Ok maybe that’s pushing it.

Michael Graves

michaelg@gsa1000.com

www.gsapreview.com

www.gsa1000.com

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/331627/GSA1000?trk=pro_other_cmpy

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellynngraves

A world without advertisements

President Harry S. Truman the founder of the GSA said,

“Without advertising, information would take years to reach all of us who might benefit by it and progress would be delayed”

Take a moment to imagine a world without advertising, without marketing, without sales, without promotion.

Take away the telemarketers, the salesmen, and the sales presentations.

Remove the magazines ads, the newspaper ads, and the television commercials. 

Lose the post cards, door hangers, and fliers.

Take away all the online ads, online shops, and shopping carts.

Tear down all the billboards and store signs.

Silence all radio ads and street vendors.

Stop production on all promotional items i.e. pens, caps, jackets, patches, buttons, etc.

Scratch anything at all that would tell you anything about anything you could buy.

Remove it all from your imaginary world.

Movie trailers, sitcom trailers, concert promotions, soda labels, amazon.com, ebay, etc. etc. ad infinitum.

It is a very perfectly quiet and peaceful world…

…until you need something.

Now you are standing in the middle of the equivalent of a quiet village in the 14th century.

Now lets say you get an infection.

You will probably die because you couldn’t get the proper medication because the drug store doesn’t exist because it couldn’t sell products that didn’t exist in the first place because the manufacturer had know way of knowing that the scientist 1000 miles away came up with a simple antiseptic that could have prevented the infection in the first place.

You probably contracted the infection from the cut on your hand when you were working in your garden or tending your cattle or feeding your chickens because there is no such thing as grocery stores.  How can a grocery store exist when it can’t promote products that aren’t produced in the first place because the dairy couldn’t advertise, the farmer could advertise, the baker couldn’t advertise, the shipping company doesn’t even exist, and what is a processing plant or distributor anyway?

Take some time to really create this world in your mind and then ask yourself if you would like to live in it.  If so, then there are still places you can buy land and live off it as you please.

Or maybe you like your car, your latte, your clothing, your favorite movies, dvd player, ipod, musicians singing on the ipod, air conditioning, insulated housing, paved roads, electricity, grocery stores, medicine, hospitals, fire trucks, ambulances, weather warning systems, the job you have because your employer can advertise, etc. ad infinitum again.

If so, then please re-read the President Harry S. Truman quote above and keep in mind the communication conduit that lead us to the state of civilization we have today (advertising), and stop complaining.

Ever hear of the phrase about biting the hand that feeds?

Michael Graves

GSA1000

michaelg@gsa1000.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellynngraves

The problem with McDonalds

Ok.  So,  my beef (no pun intended) with McDonalds is the mindset it has created with the American people.

Don’t get me wrong.  The “I want it now” mentality is great for some things – especially in business.  It is particularly handy in sales and delivery.  Another analogy would be a “hunter” mentality. 

Need, find, get – perfect!  Aggressive!  Effective!  Not the end all way of doing things.  (especially when dealing with the Government)

So here is the root of my beef. 

I speak to small business owners all day long determining where, how, and if they can fit into the GSA Schedules.  Sometimes, they just don’t fit.  And that is ok.  They can still compete for the business on the open market.  But a good portion of the time I will find that they do meet the criteria for a GSA schedule. 

And then I find that their competition is raking it in simply because they have a contract with the GSA while the small business owner I am talking to is sucking pond water.  That ticks me off but isn’t the root here.

The problem lies with the business owner themselves because ultimately it is their responsibility to market their business.  Right? 

So why do they hesitate at all when faced with the proof that money is being spent on their products and services by the GSA?  The answer is usually time because it takes 60 – 120 days to go through the process.

They want the business now.  And therein lies the problem with the fast food mentality.  Yeah, get the business now.  Of course!  But tomorrow will roll around.  You can bet on it. 

The farmers have it right.  Sometimes you have to plant now and harvest later.

Michael Graves

michaelg@gsa1000.com

www.gsapreview.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellynngraves

Friday!!! Wait. I’m not ready!

Well the end of the week and I am still wanting to talk to biz owners. It seems that most biz owners are not even aware of the GSA, much less that they can do business with the Federal Government.

To be honest, before I started here I new about the GSA, but it didn’t occur to me that a small biz could do biz with the FedGov.

I guess the greatest difficulty I have faced this week is overcoming the “to good to be true” objection.

If you are reading this and your are a small biz owner, make no mistake. This is not a walk in the park. But yes, a small business owner can do business with the Federal Government – and a lot!

Yes it can be a headache. But once done, the contract is good for 20 years and a lot of small businesses are making BANK because they took the time or made the investment to get on schedule.

I could SOOOOO go on and on because actually it is that exciting! And the people getting excited are the business owners I talk too!

But alas. It is Friday and I must go home. There is always Monday!!

Michael Graves
michealg@gsa1000.com
www.gsa1000.com
813-402-1968

1st days – and the rumors are blown

 As week and ½ ago I was NOT employed by GSA1000.  I came across some reports roughly a week ago but decided to do my own due diligence and see first hand.  I was interviewed by Joe and was offered a position as a GSA Classification Specialist (Account Rep).  After my own professional observations, I decided to take the position.  It is now Wednesday.  I started on Monday.  So basically I have been with the company for 3 days and this is what I know so far.

 

The company is in the middle of growing rapidly with 2 offices in FL and one in SC.  There are definitely growing pains – mostly with organization.  But, it is my experience with any company I have worked for or owned, that is to be expected.  It is a sign of success through professionalism.

 

The GSA Contract Processing Service is legit.  I have seen the team of GSA processors and the contracts that they are working on.  I have also seen the completed contracts and have spoken to some of the clients GSA1000 has processed contracts for.  This is obviously one product that can not be faked or scammed.  The GSA application process takes 60 – 90 days on average IF the client provides all the information needed.  The application is roughly 500 – 750 pages thick.  Then it is verified and approved by the US Government.  Un-scammable.  39 contract approvals just this year so far.  The largest and most successful company providing this service.  Period.  AND the most reasonable. 

 

GSA1000 has an open door policy.  Any company interested in finding out more about GSA1000 and its services can come to the free GSA Schedule Contract seminars on Wednesdays right on site.  You will then be given a tour of the facility and shown first hand the truth.  It is not an illusion.

 

If you have any more questions, you are more than welcome to contact me at michaelg@gsa1000.com or 813-402-1968 or http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellynngraves on linkedin

or www.gsa1000.com or www.gsapreview.com

 

Michael Graves