GSA (General Services Administration) a direct vendor for the US GovernmentGeneral Services Administration is the direct contact to become a vendor for the U.S. government. The General Services Administration is like the business manager or purchasing agent for the US government. The
GSA has a protocol to follow in order to become a pre-approved vendor to sell products and services to the US Government. Contracts or “schedules” as the
GSA would call it have to be approved before services can be rendered. An example of a government contract or schedule would be a 70 gsa contract. A
GSA Schedule 70 contracts include all types of US Government IT contracts from IT products and Professional Services to Software Sales and IT Classroom Training.
* Key benefits to GSA contracting are:
* your market to the largest buyer in the world
* provides for small business preferences (veteran, women, and minority owned);
* allows you to market directly to federal purchasers; and
* no competitive bidding for contracts up to $500,000
The products and services that can be provided are the same products and services that any large business would need to function on a daily basis such as IT services in both computer hardware, software and service, business management tools, environmental services, law enforcement fire and rescue equipment supplies, engineering contract services, advertising and marketing services, building materials services and supplies and medical equipment. The list of services is endless but to have your foot in the door one would need to follow the protocol that is set by the
GSA. Once a company is approved, a GSA contract is in place for five years, with three additional five year extensions available.This GSA protocol to pre-approve a company can be overwhelming and time consuming. Fortunately there are GSA assistance classes that can assist in the process. The first place one can go to is directly to the gsa.com website to the section stating "For contractors or vendors" and selecting "GSA Training programs" There on should be able to obtain asistance from the GSA directly to get training on how obtain "GSA Schedules"
GSA Schedule 70 and GSA Consultant
By: lobando