Our experience in working with GSA schedule customers indicates that GSA is focusing more efforts on contract compliance. Our speculation is that the Obama administration has accepted GSA schedules as competitive procurement mechanisms with reluctance. Although competition is reduced significantly for schedule buys, the administration has to accept schedules or federal procurement efficiency would be curtailed severely.

We have found cases of audit reports that are unduly harsh and customers of Fedmarket have reported that their audits were ugly and emotional. As always, the biggest audit problems are a violation of the price reduction clause followed by GSA prices that weren't updated by contract modification but charged to GSA customers.

The problem of harsh audits is compounded by the fact that contracting officers cannot disagree with audit findings even though they may consider the finding to be overblown. The bureaucracy just doesn't support a contracting officer who contradicts audit finding regardless of fact.