In previous installments, we have emphasized that GSA Schedule contracts are the closing vehicle of choice for small to medium-sized businesses. Yet preparing the offer (or proposal) to obtain a Schedule contract is a very difficult task -- particularly for companies inexperienced in federal contracting. What makes preparing the offer such a difficult task? Some reasons follow:

• Determining which Schedule best fits a company's products or services can be a puzzle.
• Your offer must meet all of the requirements laid out in the Schedule solicitation (or Request for Proposal). This document can often be in excess of 150 pages or so.
• Under all of the Schedule solicitations, the company submitting the offer must disclose all of its discounting practices. This requirement has proven to be the single biggest stumbling block for vendors. Most companies start out with the most fundamental question, "What is a discounting practice? We sell at the prices the market will bear." And it goes downhill from this most fundamental level. Readers would be surprised to learn that most companies don't really have a handle on what their discounting practices are.
• The relationship between a company's commercial prices, its discounting practices, and its proposed GSA prices is not clearly established in the Request for Proposal.
• The representations and certifications contained within the solicitation are presented in convoluted, bureaucratic language which is difficult to understand.
• The solicitation's instructions on preparing and submitting an offer are several sentences in length when a clear explanation would require several paragraphs and, in some cases, several pages of text.

Many federal agencies and other organizations -- including GSA, the Small Business Administration, and Professional Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC's) -- try to help companies decipher GSA proposal requirements. Such organizations help to varying degrees. Yet they all only scratch the surface because there isn't enough time available or the people providing help do not have the required knowledge to fully assist. For the foregoing reasons, we suggest that businesses consider paying experts to assist in the proposal's preparation.