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Tag: FCP

GSA streamlines and saves you time

The General Services Administration (GSA) appears to have successfully modernized its catalog management system for the Advantage! program. (Federal News Network February 5, 2024)

GSA is increasing the user base of the new FAS Catalog Platform (FCP) after a successful trial period with Office Supplies 4 vendors. (ibid)

Mike Shepherd, the director of GSA’s catalog management office, explains the significant improvements of the FCP over the previous SIP system. He states that the FCP, replacing SIP, offers new features benefiting suppliers, acquisition workforce, and customers. It integrates with e-modification, capturing catalog updates and automating publishing modifications to GSA Advantage!. This greatly reduces the time it takes for vendors to add new products and delete items. It saves vendors an averge of 34 days by adding the products to their catalogs. Catalog deletions take place within 1 to 2 days of a modication submitted by the contractor, whereas it was common for it to take 10 or more days to delete products prior to the improvements. (ibid)

In addition to addressing long-standing issues, the platform includes automated data validation, a central hub for catalog actions, access to catalog history and a shared user interface. (ibid)

GSA plans to add more users and initiate a pilot for professional services on the platform. In addition, GSA aims to migrate the majority of Advantage! catalogs to the new platform by fiscal year-end. The plan also includes expanding the catalog platform to services contractors later this year, aiming for a simplified submission process. (ibid)

The new catalog is part of a broader effort to modernize GSA Advantage!, including consolidating schedules and updating user tools and backend systems, that both run and feed Advantage!. (ibid)

GSA will continue to gather feedback from users to address challenges and ensure ongoing improvement.(ibid)

Questions about the FCP improvements and how they might affect your contract? Give us a call.

A workflow for everyone


The Catalog Management Office (CMO) is actively finalizing the workflow for Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) services between eMod and the new FAS Catalog Platform (FCP). Simultaneously, they are completing the new Services Plus File for FCP use, marking progress towards launching MAS service functionality in FCP by fiscal year-end 2024 (refer to the attached file for the Services Plus file). (BUY.GSA.GOV NOVEMBER 30, 2023)

The Services Plus file, formerly the Service File, will now accommodate all service contract and catalog data from the Services and Training, and the Language Services Price Proposal Templates. Vendors will also utilize it for non-GSA Advantage! publishable products, such as highly customizable items. (ibid)

Vendors can categorize their offerings in the new template under eight catalog item types:

  1. Commercial Labor Categories: Vendor-defined labor categories, using the hour (HR) unit of measure.
  2. Service Contract Labor Standards (SCLS) labor categories: Governed by Service Contract Act laws and regulations, using the HR unit of measure.
  3. Fixed Price Solutions: Services outside the labor category paradigm, using any unit of measure.
  4. Courses and Training: Sessions with minimum and maximum student constraints.
  5. Other Direct Costs (ODCs): Contract-level items sold, supporting public relations and marketing services.
  6. Language Services: Translation services, translating languages, one or both ways.
  7. Highly Customizable Products: Products with multiple options, that cannot be sold on GSA Advantage! Priced as a discount to a manufacturer group or family, as opposed to pricing products as a discrete set of line items.
  8. Ancillary Items: Products or services supporting the dominant service in the Services Plus File, and not sold on GSA Advantage! (ibid)

Questions about how to categorize your offerings? Give us a call.