The biggest stumbling block for many companies in making a General Service Administration (GSA) schedule offer is GSA's requirement to disclose your "Commercial Sales Practices." Companies new to the federal market often respond, "Do what?" GSA wants to know about any and all discounts your company has ever offered to any type of customer. For many companies disclosing all of the company's discounts is a discouraging quagmire and many give up out of frustration.

Always disclose your discounting practices no matter how deep the discount. During price negotiations with GSA, you can explain why a particular discount does not apply, using the argument that the terms and conditions of the discount are different from the terms and conditions of the solicitation. GSA holds most of the negotiating cards, but you can win this argument (occasionally) if the terms and conditions are wildly disparate and you make an articulately written and verbal case. And you were lucky enough to draw a reasonable GSA negotiator.

Failure to fully disclose discounting practices can result in downward price adjustments during the life of the contract, and the necessity for money being returned to GSA. It is an understatement to say that discount disclosures are the most critical part of a GSA proposal; they determine your GSA prices and your future audit risk.