The General Services Administration Acquisition Manual (GSAM) that governs the evaluation of a GSA Schedule proposal contains the rules that govern the evaluation of a GSA Schedule proposal.

See: 538.270 Evaluation of multiple award schedule (MAS) offers

As you can see the rules are written to be 1) extremely flexible and 2) to be in the best interest of the Government.

This is what you are up against when you go into negotiations with the government. GSA personnel will look to scare you with statements such as 'an award at prices higher than most favored customer pricing is unheard of.' This type of absolute statement is simply not true. Within the context of the evaluation criteria under 538.270, the Government may award at prices other than MFC prices.

When negotiating with a GSA officer for award of your GSA Schedule contract remember:

1. know your offer inside and out so that you can counter any unreasonable position the Government takes; and,
2. remember their drivers: the bureaucrats you will be speaking with will want a nice clean file for your award, one that proves they 'got' something out of you. During the negotiations give judiciously so that they can put a piece of paper in their file that proves they did her job;
3. if you have to give, I would drop prices in single percentage increments 1%, 2%, etc. they are just looking for ANYTHING that will complete their paperwork is a way that makes them look good.

Fedmarket can help you untangle the GSA jargon and optimize your GSA proposal pricing. Contact Richard White at (301) 960-5813

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