In fact, GSA schedules limit competition for good reasons; they reduce the cost of purchasing and, more importantly, speed up the purchasing process. Most people who understand federal purchasing issues agree that GSA schedules are in the best interest of the taxpayer. As expressed above, GSA's posture implies that competition takes place when a Request for Quote (RFQ) is issued. In real life, the actual completion takes place way ahead of the issuance of an RFQ. Except for commodities, the competition place when a sales person calls on an end user and sells a company's products or services based on features and benefits, best values considerations, and risk aversion.

More than one company may be engaging the end user but all the competitors on your GSA schedule will not be a factor in most cases. The RFQ issued to those companies working with the end user and others who the end user doesn't know. Often this is only one company; hopefully, yours. In most cases, the companies that have not sold the end user provide the paperwork that the government needs to show competition.

So, as we see it, the most basic issues are as follows:

1. Your company and its sales staff generate the demand with end users for your products and services. The only competitors that you need to worry about are those selling the end user in direct competition with your company. A GSA Schedule contract is a method which allows your business to quickly and easily close a sale that you have already made.
2. The hundreds, or even thousands, of companies on your Schedule are really just names in the database. As we tell our clients, "Only companies with proactive sales people survive in the federal sales game."
3. Your company should hold a GSA Schedule contract in order to close deals. The goal should not be not to use your Schedule contract to help win opportunities which your sales staff hasn't presold. Don't go into a bid opportunity with the mindset that, even though the end user has no idea about your company or its capabilities, you are going to blindly bid on that contract and use your Schedule contract to help seal the deal.
4. When considering whether to enter the federal market, your management must ask whether the company can afford the lead time and expensive of implementing an effective federal sales program. If your company has already implemented such a program and a contracting officer has told your staff that it would make her life easier if your business held a Schedule contract, pursue getting one immediately.