GSA Readies New Report Card for Schedules GSA plans to introduce its new report card for multiple award schedule contractors in August. A company’s grade on the report card will help contracting officers decide whether to exercise the five-year option on a schedule contract, said officials of the agency’s Supplier Management Organization. The report card “is provided to the [procurement contracting officer] as advice,” said Maura Kortlang, director of supplier management. The PCO makes the final decision on whether to exercise an option. She spoke June 8 at Set-Aside Alert’s small business breakfast in Falls Church, VA. Kortlang said most contractors will be graded twice during their initial five years on the schedules: once around the mid-point and again in the final year before the option is due. The new report card includes nine categories that are deemed critical, such as compliance with the scope of the contract; using a current approved price list; and accurately tracking GSA sales. (See the questionnaire, next story.) “Failure to meet any one of these items will result in a rating of ‘serious concerns exist,’” the document says. If serious concerns are found, the contracting officer will discuss how to fix those concerns, said Walter Eckbreth, the program analyst who is heading the report-card effort. GSA contract management personnel will answer the 26 questions on the report card based on the contractor’s records and a site visit by an industrial operations analyst. The new report card includes five possible grades: exceptional, very good, satisfactory, marginal and “serious concerns exist.” The grade “unsuccessful” has been eliminated. The new report card will make it easier for GSA to terminate schedule contractors that record little or no sales. Kortlang said 40% of companies do not reach the $25,000 minimum sales requirement in the first two years of their contracts. Under the current report card, she said, a contractor with zero sales through the schedules could receive a grade of “outstanding” because he did not have a chance to make a mistake. The new system will correct that. Eckbreth said he expects many contractors will stumble on the requirement that they give the government “most favored customer” prices. He warned that contractors must monitor their dealings with their “most favored customer” (officially called the “basis of award” customer) and make sure the government always pays prices no higher than those offered to that customer.