Jul 10, 2012

Barbara Connell

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GSA Tools to Help You Succeed with Your New GSA Schedule Contract!

GSA is investing in providing training tools to GSA Schedule contractors to better prepare new vendors for successful business partnerships with GSA. These training tools include the “Pathway to Success” educational seminar, the “New Contractor Orientation” educational seminar, and the “Readiness Assessment.”

Pathway to Success: The completion of this educational seminar is mandatory for vendors submitting proposals under all GSA Schedules. This seminar consists of a two-hour long PowerPoint presentation followed by a ten question quiz. Once a score of at least 70% is achieved, the vendor will be presented with a certificate of completion to submit along with the proposal to GSA. Only one authorized negotiator from each prospective vendor is required to complete the training, but it will be beneficial to all involved in the proposal and contract administration process to complete. This training has five modules that provide information on the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program, whether or not MAS is a good fit for your company, alternatives to MAS, the proposal process, and the approval process.

Readiness Assessment: The readiness assessment is a requirement that is in the process of being rolled out to all GSA Schedules. Several Schedules including MOBIS, AIMS, and FABS now require that the completed test be submitted with your proposal to GSA. Other Schedules including the IT and LAW Schedules do not require the test to be completed prior to offer submission. In summer 2012, the Readiness Assessment will be a requirement for all Schedule contracts. This is a self-assessment to help your company decide which Schedule is most appropriate for the products and services you wish to sell. In completing this assessment, you will perform research and learn how to use important tools such as the Schedule Sales Query to collect data on contractor sales under the Schedule you will be proposing under.

New Contractor Orientation: This educational seminar is provided by GSA for vendors that have recently been awarded GSA Schedule contract. This educational seminar is not mandatory but provided for your benefit. This seminar introduces new contractors to the MAS program and covers the general aspects of successfully utilizing your GSA Schedule contract. You will learn about Contractor Assistance Visits (CAV), sales tracking and reporting, the Industrial Funding Fee (IFF), GSA eLibrary, GSA Advantage! and much more.

Visit GSA’s Vendor Support Center at https://vsc.gsa.gov/ to access these training tools. For information about Aronson’s GSA Schedule assistance, please contact Hope Lane at 301.231.6266 or hlane@aronsonllc.com.