Information Technology Small Business and GSA IT 70

A GSA Schedule is a tool in a Federal Buyers toolbox and like all tools it works best when fitted to the application in which it is best suited. Over $4B per year in Federal IT Sales are procured from small business utilizing their GSA Schedules. This week I am going to review Information Technology on the Schedule System and where a GSA Schedule comes out on top of other contracting vehicles used by federal buyers.

Advantages

As you can see from the Data Table below NAICS Codes such as Software Publishing (12x – 12 times federal contractors without a GSA Schedule), Computer Manufacturing (4.8x), Computer Training (7.6x), Computer Repair (34x), Data Processing (2.5x), Facilities Management (1.5x) and even Storage Devices (2x) on average pose an advantage over attempting to sell these goods and services using non-GSA Schedule contracting vehicles.

Highlighted Industries

1. Computer and Office Machine Repair and Maintenance (34x)–The success of these GSA Schedule Holders is likely due to the nature of on-site computer repair. This industry typically has relatively small transaction sizes (for the federal government) and small businesses can easily handle these transactions. This is almost a perfect fit for the GSA Schedule System and therefore these firms are hitting it out of the park relative to their peers.
2. Software Publishers (12x) – GSA Advantage allows federal buyers to find smaller software publishers products and procure it when needed. The relatively low sales figures for firms not on GSA Schedule demonstrates that if you are a small business software publisher you are bucking the system by not availing yourself to the GSA Schedule System.
3. Computer Training (7.6x) – Training has always worked well with the GSA Schedule System. Training is almost a mixture between Computer Repair and Software as the sale is for an in person product that is not a large transaction amount. The result is clear, if a firm is attempting to sell training services to the federal government, the firm needs to have a GSA Schedule.

For most IT industries a GSA Schedule in IT offers its owners considerable advantage rather than attempting to business in the federal market place without it.

Data Table: