In our previous installment, we discussed how the General Service Administration (GSA) is becoming more stringent and rigid with respect to its review or evaluation of GSA Schedule offers. As a result of this recent development, vendors submitting proposals to GSA must be particularly cautious in preparing their submittals. Specifically, a vendor preparing a submittal should adhere to the following set of rules:

• Verify that you have responded to the most recent version of the GSA solicitation. There has been an increase in the number of changes or updates made to the various solicitations and, in certain instances, offers submitted on older versions of the appropriate solicitation may be rejected.
• Pay particular attention to the fact that your offer must provide each and every item requested in the solicitation. Failure to submit a requested item may result in a rejection of your offer.
• Spend extra time drafting the information requested in "corporate experience" or "technical" volumes. Including "other services performed" narratives in a project description for a particular service can also result in a proposal rejection. Including superfluous or unrelated information can raise a red "out of scope" flag. For example, adding information technology terms like "systems development" in a management consulting offer can result in a rejection or a request for a proposal revision.
• Make sure that your products or services are covered under the schedule you are seeking or that you have chosen the most appropriate schedule for your products or services. The specific schedule that covers a particular type of product or service can be ambiguous and a product or service can be sold under more than one schedule.
• Pay particular attention to language in a solicitation such as "This schedule does not cover _________." Don't try to force fit your product or service into a schedule. Although this may have been possible in the past, it is highly unlikely that you will be successful in doing so now.

All of this can be very confusing to vendors new to federal contracting. When confused, call the contracting officer listed as the point of contact in the solicitation. Don't hesitate to ask questions as it will be time well spent in the long run.