GSA:GSA Schedule Companies Can Bid Quickly with Limited Competition
Federal buyers use GSA schedules to buy over $30 billion annually in products and services because schedules reduce competition for the express purpose of saving purchasing time and contracting staff time. The reduction in competition is allowable under federal procurement regulations because competition took place in the process of awarding schedule contracts
Buyers like GSA schedules based on their expediency and companies like them because buyers like them. Many federal purchases become useless unless they can be done quickly, e.g., we need a critical product because we are out-of-stock or we need a quick fix to a mission sensitive computer system.
Exact numbers are not available but a rough estimate is that a GSA schedule purchase can save the buyer about 90 % or more of the staff cost and the elapsed time required for a completely open bid. In elapsed time a GSA buy can be done in several weeks or less as opposed to months for a public bid. (Public bids are laden with red tape and require months of staff time to evaluate bids).
Most GSA buys require only the receipt of three (3) bids as opposed to 20 - 30 or more for a public bid. Product buys made from the GSA e-commerce site can be sole source.
Call 888-661-4094, Ext. 2, to learn more about how a GSA schedule can help you win government contracts.
