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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Column: Rescuing a GSA Schedule Contract from CancellationBy Richard J. Hernandez, CPCM, founder, E-MBE.netThis article provides advice for General Services Administration Multiple-Award Schedule holders to prepare a “rescue plan” to help them avoid cancellation of their contracts due to situations of 1) no sales or 2) sales under the $25,000 annual requirement. Key statistics are 1) more than 50% of companies who hold GSA schedules have been unable to see any business through it and 2) approximately 1,000 GSA Schedule contracts are canceled each year. This means GSA Schedule Contract holders must be aggressive and proactive to win contracts before cancellation takes effect. Avoiding no sales and low sales The best way to avoid the no/low sales situation is to use a federal contracts “data mining” program to find the expiring tasks orders associated with your GSA Schedule contract’s particular Special Item Numbers (SINs). Using this information, you can develop a targeted “Prospect List” to proactively market to federal buyers using your Schedule contract. This should be done when you first get your contract, not when you get the GSA warning letter. Warning Notice GSA’s process of canceling a Schedules contract starts with a warning letter via e-mail that says “This letter is to inform you that cancellation of your Federal Supply Schedule contract GS-XXF-XXXXX due to the failure to meet the required I-FSS-639 Contract Sales Criteria clause pursuant to clause 552.238-73.” If you receive the above notice, do not panic. Realize you have the right to appeal any decision that might result in the cancellation of your schedule. Cancellation Factors Cancelling a GSA Schedule Contract is not an exact science. The government considers several factors when they make a cancellation decision, including: GSA Schedule Rescue Plan The GSA Schedule rescue plan involves creating a prospect list and marketing plan and sending the marketing plan to your GSA Schedule contracting officer. Prospect List The first step is to prepare a Prospect List of upcoming contracts you want to target to meet your GSA Schedule sales goals. To prepare the list you can:
GSA Schedule Marketing Plan After you have obtained a list of expiring task orders/delivery orders, the next “rescue” step for a GSA Schedule contract is to prepare a GSA Schedule Marketing Plan to help you meet the minimum annual sales of $25,000. After all, simply having a schedule is no guarantee of any revenue, as indicated above. Below is a format that is recommended for submission to the GSA / VA Contracting Officer as a “rescue plan”. PART I - Overview
Send Rescue Plan to Your GSA Schedule Contracting Officer Once you complete the above rescue plan in response to your pending cancellation notice, then you should send it back to your GSA Schedule Contracting Officer to request a 12-month extension to implement it. Be sure to request a written extension approval.
Richard J. Hernandez, CPCM, a former contracting officer and small business office director, is the founder of E-MBE.net. He can be reached at rhernandez@e-mbe.net.
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