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Government Contractor’s Blog

Will GSA Reopen Schedule 75: Office Products and Supplies?

Schedule 75 was first closed in October of  2010 and was originally intended to be closed for 24 months. A GSA review determined an additional 12 months of inactivity was appropriate for the schedule, pushing the reopening date back to 2013. It has yet to reopen.

The GSA has issued a new RFI (request for information) regarding reopening Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) 75: Office Products and Supplies.  According to the GSA website:

“Throughout 2016, GSA has been working closely with the vendor community, customers, various industry associations, wholesalers and suppliers in the office supply community to determine the best course of action for re-opening MAS 75…

“We received great comments from our customers, various industry associations, wholesalers and manufacturers in the office supply industry and have come up with ideas that we think will make MAS 75 a new and improved solution for purchasing office supplies,” said Peter Han, GSA Northeast Caribbean Supply and Acquisition Center director“ A major goal of the new solution remains increasing [the] opportunity for small business participation by at least 5 percent.”

To find more information you may join the Schedule 75 Community Group or contact us at EZGSA for any questions about how this will affect you.

Does your business qualify for the HUBzone program?

The Small Business Administration’s “HUBZone” or “Historically Underutilized Business Zone program” provides special assistance to businesses within these defined zones, usually around Native American Reservations and military bases.

To find out if you business falls within one of the HUBZones, take a look at the HUBZone Maps at the SBA.

To qualify, it is also required that

  • It must be a small business by SBA standards;
  • It must be owned and controlled at least 51% by U.S. citizens, or a Community Development Corporation, an agricultural cooperative, or an Indian tribe;
  • Its principal office must be located within a “Historically Underutilized Business Zone,” which includes lands considered “Indian Country” and military facilities closed by the Base Realignment and Closure Act; and
  • At least 35% of its employees must reside in a HUBZone.

To learn more about the application process, visit applying for the HUBZone Program, or take a look at a variety of related topics at SBA’s website.

If you require special assistance or have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@ezgsa.com !

FAR Update

FAR Subpart 4.17, Service Contracts Inventory, requires service contractors with contracts containing either FAR clause 52.204-14 or 52.204-15 to submit a Service Contract Report (SCR) to the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) at the end of each Fiscal Year.

FAR clauses 52.204-14 and 52.204-15 should be contained in all of the following types of service contracts:

  • Cost-reimbursement, time-and-materials, and labor-hour service standalone contracts or orders with a total value above the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT);
  • Fixed-price definite-delivery service contracts with a total value at or above $500,000;
  • Indefinite-delivery contracts where the estimated total value meets either of the above criteria; and
  • First-tier subcontracts for services.

The initial service contract reporting window will remain open until December 15, 2016, and all service contractors are encouraged to submit their responses during that time-frame.  

It is extremely important that all service contractors comply with the reporting requirement. Contractors should be reminded that a failure to comply with the service contract reporting requirements must be documented as part of a contractor’s performance evaluation as required by FAR Subpart 42.15.

Further Information:

Please follow this link for an instructional GSA YouTube video on the SCR submission process.

Please review the SCR Quick Start Guide.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@ezgsa.com or 301-913-5000

https://youtu.be/kMbcM9myWjo

Marketing Tip of the week: Expiring Contracts

When a government contract ends, there is a likelihood that the particular agency will again need the things they bought before. Like a yearly grocery list, they buy the same types of things over and over again.

Knowing contract end dates are essential to winning new business. By researching for existing contracts that will be expiring in the next 6 months, you’ll be able to determine:

  • the status of the current project
  • if it’s going to be up for “re-compete”
  • what the incumbent did to win the original
  • the likely parameters of the forthcoming RFP
  • the strengths and weaknesses of your competition

—and you’ll have this information well in advance of the RFP, giving your team ample time to prepare .

For more information or for research and marketing assistance, call EZGSA @301-913-5000