Federal Year End Selling

A lot of people ask me when the best time to obtain a GSA Schedule is.

There is not a simple answer to this question, generally I respond that the most important factor is that the company is committed to selling to the federal government. Like starting a business your first sale is always you’re hardest. But there are some ways in which to make the first sale easier than it might otherwise be.
September is the end of the Federal Fiscal year and in this month the federal government spends 23% of its discressionary spending (see month 12 on the graph below).

For non-construction industries generally a GSA Schedule Contract greatly enhances a firms selling opportunities to the federal government. On average firms with a GSA Schedule sell over $1MM in goods or services to the Federal Government.

It generally takes approximately 4-6 months to obtain a GSA Schedule Contract, so if a firm started October 1^st it would be obtaining its schedule in the February timeframe. For most firms it takes approximately 3 months to make their first sale putting the firm at around May. This then puts the firm in good position to take advantage of the 4^th quarter and the September burst in federal contracting. To some a year seems like a long-time, however generating an additional $1MM in sales generally takes time in the commercial marketplace as well.

GSA Schedule Holders 4^th Quarter Advantage:

1. GSA Schedule is a Government-wide contracting vehicle meaning all agencies are permitted to buy from your schedule. Therefore the federal buyer doesn’t have to worry about setting up a new contracting vehicle specifically to purchase from your firm. This is big advantage to a new businesses making its sales pitch to a federal agency.
2. The pricing is vetted by the GSA before you can sell to the federal government so the contracting officer know pricing is in line with expectations and this is important because at year end contracting officers are at their busiest.
3. A GSA Schedule Contract provides a listing in GSA Advantage and Elibrary. Many people believe that a federal buyer could find them on sam.gov however in reality there are over 500,000 listings in sam.gov and only 20,000 on GSA Schedule. GSA Schedule firms cared enough to go through the process of obtaining a contracting vehicle and are already vetted. Clearly a federal buyer is much better off searching for a solution through the GSA Schedule system.