MAKE vs BUY? This is the core question.
There is no shortage of firms that you can hire that will get you a GSA contract. Doing something “in-house” or hiring an outside firm is a classical type of business decision that your company likely makes every day. But to more effectively address this very important core question, lets take a more specific look. In considering a GSA contract, you are contemplating entering into a 5 year and potentially 20 year relationship with the largest customer on earth, the Federal Government. How much or little are you going to be involved in the negotiating process when acquiring this GSA contract? Since a contract involves a set of promises between two parties, you might want to see how this whole contract acquisition process works before you hire some outside firm to make these promises for you.
First Consider This: From where did your initial interest in GSA come?
- Did you find an Federal opportunity of which you might have a good solution?
- Did a Federal customer find your company/product?
- Or did you get a call from a firm who espoused the huge opportunity of selling to the Federal government?
If it’s either 1. or 2., great! At least you have a sense that the Federal government might be a good customer for your company.
However, if it’s this last one, be careful! This firm’s likely primary motive is to get you to pay them to fill out the GSA forms and get you into a GSA contract. GSA contracts are not for everyone. Make sure you’re clear on what a GSA contract can and cannot do for your company. You might want to read some of our other blogs on this site or go ask someone who knows and who you trust that’s not motivated by your money.
Second, understand how the whole GSA contract acquisition works.
Read the GSA’s Solicitation which describes what GSA is expecting to receive from your firm in order for them to possibly award a GSA contract. The Solicitation to submit a proposal for a GSA contract is always published on Beta Sam (www.beta.SAM.gov), the Federal Procurement business opportunity website. This is your starting point for understanding. Whether you intend to hire someone or not, you really need to read this solicitation! To find the Solicitation and all its attachments, perform a search on Beta Sam. It is usually entitled “Multiple Award Schedule”. You can either do a search with key words of “GSA” and “Multiple Award Schedule”. If you cannot find it, go to the GSA website, www.gsa.gov and it will indicate where on Beta Sam it is located. You can even call GSA and ask. The important point here is, whether you DIY or hire an outside firm, read the Solicitation!
Third, negotiation begins the moment you start reading the Solicitation.
If you’re the Government that’s soliciting offers to its Solicitation, naturally, it’s going to pre-load the Solicitation with clauses that favor the Federal government. And by the size and complexity of this document, it may appear that everything is somewhat dictated for you to accept. In my view, anything is negotiable if you have a good argument and you know how to effectively present it in your offer. If you are going to hire an outside firm to get your GSA contract, remember that they likely want to “get it awarded and get paid”. There might be things that the outside firm might gloss over and accept which might be crucial to your firm. Examples might be discount terms for prompt payments, minimum order sizes, FOB points, purchase card fees, variable raw material cost, reporting methodologies. There are many others. Again, READ THE SOLICITATION, no matter what.
Finally, know the timing.
Quite a number of variables will determine how long it will take to obtain the award of your GSA contract. GSA has always been and will always be stretched thing for resources. Your initial submission and assignment to a GSA negotiator will be influenced by the GSA’s workload. The complexity & nature of your offering will also play a part. GSA always seems to be under construction in one form or another, another factor. Now add to this the overhead of inserting another firm into the process. Most GSA’s questions or requests for clarificaiton will only be answerable by you and not the outside firm. And humans being humans, the more people in volved in the process, the more likely a ball will be dropped. All in all, expect a number of months and possibly over a year before a GSA contract award is made. You might consider a bit of multi-tasking. While you go down the path of seeking your own GSA contract, you can in the meantime use ours. You’ll learn the market more quickly while you await the award of your own contract.
I have lost count of firms that we’ve encountered who have hired an outside firm and have been disappointed with the result. And it’s usually because the leadership is taking a ‘throw it over the fence’ attitude. Whether you do it yourself or hire someone else, remember that you’re the one who’s going to be on the hook for the contract. Own it! Please contact us if you want more to consider. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!
