I got a call from a past Management Training Coach for some Modification work she wanted preformed last week. She wanted to add additional offerings that were under $10,000 that were flat fee fixed price trainings. I immediately knew what that plan was and thought it ingenious.
Preface: In the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act a key change made was that the Micro-Purchase Threshold applicable to FAR subpart 13.2 Actions, went from $3,500 to $10,000 for Civilian Actions and $5,000 for the DoD. This means that buying actions under $10,000 will now be much easier for federal buyers to undertake.
Going after the Under $10,000 Sales
In this case the majority of our clients trainings are under $10,000 and are therefore eligible for the new higher limit for government charge card status. Which is a much easier process than any other type of procurement. These sales generally are initiated with a phone call where the vendor is found on GSA Advantage but in most cases the sales do not occur off the schedule.
GSA Sales Training Growth
The other thing that is exciting for Small Business GSA Training SIN Schedule Holders is that the use of these SINS for training has been growing at a rapid pace increasing 17% from 2016 to 2017. The reality is that training is becoming more important and GSA Schedules are increasingly getting the nod for purchasing training. In 2016 federal agencies spent $411MM in training. In 2017 from the same schedules training purchasing swelled to $481MM.
But Bob how much is Small Business getting?
Of the $481MM in training transacts off the GSA Schedule System and approximately 32% of these training dollars are spent with Small Businesses. Listed below are the largest training areas purchased off schedule. (Remember: These figures do not take into account the large number of micro-purchase trainings that take place, those trainings under $3,000 for 2017 now $10,000 for 2018.)
What Specific Training is Purchase off the Schedule System?
This list of services is very broad covering, Computer Programming, Management, Acquisition, Environmental, Emergency Preparedness, First Responder as well as almost all other areas of Coursework.
When is are Federal Training Buys Most Active?
Training is very typically a 4th Quarter purchase item for Federal Agencies wanting to take full utilization of their budgets and therefore applying for a GSA Schedule today with a 4-6 month lead time will allow a firm wanting to break into federal training to be on schedule before the Jul-Aug-Sep (4th Quarter Federal Peak Spending.
Small Business Sales for 2017
GSA Schedule |
GSA Schedule SIN Code |
GSA SIN Description |
Amount of Small Business Sales (FY2017) |
Total Number of Vendors |
Avg. Sales from Schedule |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
00CORP |
382 3 |
Training and Educational Materials |
800,000 |
18 |
44,444 |
00CORP |
874 4 |
Training ServicesInstructor Led Training, Web Based Training and Education Courses, Course Development and Test Administration, Learning Management, Internships |
114,200,000 |
595 |
191,933 |
00CORP |
874 8 |
Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) and Federal Acquisition Certification (FAC) Training for Acquisition Workforce Personnel |
2,900,000 |
8 |
362,500 |
70 |
132 50 |
Training Courses SUBJECT TO COOPERATIVE PURCHASING |
20,400,000 |
490 |
41,633 |
84 |
426 4F |
Emergency Preparedness and First Responder Equipment, Training and Services SUBJECT TO COOPERATIVE PURCHASING |
12,100,000 |
115 |
105,217 |
874 |
874 4 |
Training ServicesInstructor Led Training, Web Based Training and Education Courses, Course Development and Test Administration, Learning Management, Internships |
2,400,000 |
12 |
200,000 |
Totals |
152,800,000 |
1,238 |
123,425 |
The sales for training are under the $1MM dollar average mark that most small businesses hit with their GSA Schedule. However in my experience many of the small businesses providing federal training through GSA Schedules are one-two men/woman shops and therefore these revenue figures are significant to them, as their time is the product and these amounts represent real wages to them.