The commercial and federal markets are basically identical in that you have to make one-on-one sales calls to end users in order to sell your product or service. Most commercial sales are closed relatively quickly by executing a contract with the end user's company. Sales are closed differently in the federal market. In this particular market, you must have a way to close the federal sale within the procurement rules of the federal government.

Let's assume for the purposes of this discussion that your company is an information technology service business that has sold a development project to an end user at a military base in your area. Your company is new to the market and does not have a GSA Schedule contract or a Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). For deals that exceed $25,000, your company only has two options. The options are as follows:

• The end user and the contracting office at the base could arrange for your business to receive a subcontract with one of the base's prime contractors. This solution could be accomplished quickly with minimal (if any) competition but then you are under the thumb of the prime contractor. The prime contractor will try to reduce your profits so it can take a profit on the subcontract. The prime will also try to minimize your exposure to the customer (the one that you sold in the first place) as you would if you were in the prime's shoes.
• The end user and the contracting office could decide that their only alternative is to publish the requirements for the project as a public bid. This is a less attractive alternative because the public bid will (1) require your company to write an expensive proposal, (2) expose your business to significant competition from others interested in the project, and (3) force interested parties to wait an average of 200 days or more for an award decision to be made.

Neither of the two options is ideal. As a result, contractors quickly surmise that a Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract is needed to close deals. A GSA Schedule contract is the best alternative for a small to medium-sized company. GSA Schedule buys can be accomplished in a matter of weeks, as opposed to months, and competition for the project is reduced significantly.

A Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for information technology services would be a second alternative in the scenario described above. The ease of use and reduction in competition is essentially the same as a GSA Schedule contract. However, all existing GWAC's are closed (meaning offers are not currently being accepted). New GWAC's (or those that will be announced in the future) are either limited to large companies or those set aside for small businesses won't be opened up until at least a year or more. Service contracts usually take six months to a year or more to sell and a GSA Schedule contract award requires about the same amount of time. The moral of this story is to start on your GSA Schedule offer now and don't get caught without a closing mechanism.