About GSA Schedules

Schedules, also known as Federal Supply Schedules, and Multiple Award Schedules (MAS), are long-term governmentwide contracts with commercial companies that provide access to millions of commercial products and services at fair and reasonable prices to the government. Schedules make buying easy and efficient with the use of modern technology to connect government buyers and industry.

Schedule policy and procedures are guided by two major governing regulatory documents:

  • Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) – Pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 152(3), FAR Part 38 prescribes policies and procedures that GSA must follow in managing the Schedules program. FAR Subpart 8.4 prescribes ordering procedures for federal agencies when placing orders for supplies and services under Schedules.
  • General Services Administration Acquisition Manual (GSAM) – GSAM covers GSA acquisition policies and practices.

Visit the Buyer and Seller pages for additional information on how these regulations and policies guide your Schedule experience.

Schedules and Category Management

Category Management is a strategic business practice that the Federal government is implementing to buy smarter and more like a single enterprise. GSA Schedules are considered Tier 2, Spend Under Management, which is defined as:

  • Tier 2 – Spending managed at Government-wide level through multi-agency or Government-wide solutions that are not BIC solutions but reflect strong contract management practices, including data and information sharing across agencies, and use of cross-agency metrics.

What Schedules Offer

  • Regulatory Compliance
  • Fair and Reasonable Pricing
  • Fast Order Placement
  • Full Product and Broad Service Offerings

We've got you covered. GSA has negotiated commercial item terms and conditions, under FAR Part 12, including supply and service specific terms and conditions, and, where appropriate, additional clauses that establish a baseline level of protection for the government.

GSA evaluates each offeror to determine they are responsible contractors, according to FAR Subpart 9.1. This means you can be assured that contractors:

  • Have adequate financial resources to perform the work anticipated by the schedule
  • Can meet the delivery/performance requirements
  • Have a satisfactory performance record
  • Have a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics
  • Have the corporate facilities, resources, equipment, skills and controls to do the work
  • Are otherwise qualified and eligible to receive a contract award under federal laws and regulations

In addition, offerors are generally evaluated against these evaluation factors:

  • Corporate Experience
  • Past Performance
  • Quality Control

Trade Agreements Act (TAA) Compliance

The TAA, described in FAR Subpart 25.4, applies to all Schedule contracts and orders. The TAA, which provides a waiver to the Buy American Act, states that only U.S.-made or designated-country end products may be offered or sold under Schedule contracts.

Designated countries are determined by multilateral and bilateral trade agreements maintained by the United States Trade Representative.

Before awarding a GSA Schedule contract, GSA contracting officers (COs) determine that the prices of supplies, fixed-price services, and rates for services offered at hourly rates are fair and reasonable. In addition to the pricing factors considered above, we compare the prices or discounts that a company offers the government with the best prices or discounts that the company offers to its own commercial customers - commonly known as "most favored customer" pricing.

Since GSA has already determined that prices under GSA Schedule contracts are fair and reasonable ordering activities do not need to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing, except for DOD and NASA (see agency deviations to FAR 8.404(d)). Additionally, according to FAR 8.405-2(d), the ordering contracting officer must conduct an overall price reasonableness determination when buying services under Schedules. This determination ensures the level of effort and mix of labor are appropriate to accomplish the task.

Thus buyers do not need to obtain "cost or pricing data" or "information other than cost or pricing data" to place an order or establish a GSA Schedule BPA. The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) sets forth the policy that discourages agencies from obtaining cost or pricing data when a commercial item is being acquired.

To determine fair and reasonable pricing, the GSA contracting officer may consider many factors, including pricing on competitor contracts, historical pricing, and currently available pricing from other sources, corporate benchmarks, etc.

As part of the pricing review, the offeror must submit:

  • Complete Price Proposal Template
  • Written justification for offered pricing
  • Mechanism for future potential pricing adjustments
  • Proof that the price is fair and reasonable (The GSA contracting officer will negotiate and make the final determination on fair and reasonable pricing)

View the Schedule solicitations for a complete list of evaluation factors and terms and conditions by Schedule.

GSA Schedules have been synopsized on FedBizOpps and satisfy the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (Pub. Law 98-369) and FAR Part 5, Publicizing Contract Actions. Therefore, in general, competitive (fair opportunity) Schedule Orders and Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) are not required to be synopsized in FedBizOpps. Please note exceptions apply.

Streamlined ordering procedures allow you to purchase commercial supplies and services much faster than buying through open-market procedures. Schedules orders are Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) compliant when buyers use FAR Subpart 8.4 ordering procedures. Schedule orders do not require posting on FedBizOpps; FAR 8.404(a) states that ordering activities “shall not” synopsize the requirement. The only exception is the requirement to post the Limited Sources Justification under a sole-source order as prescribed at FAR 8.405-6(a)(2).

GSA has an unprecedented depth and breadth of offerings available to buyers. Schedule contractors maintain continuous coverage and offer the latest innovative solutions and technologies. Schedules accomplish this through:

  • Continuously open solicitations allow GSA to continuously onboard new contractors on all Schedules. In addition, we have the ability to update offerings to include new and innovative solutions to make sure that the best industry has to offer is available to the government. In general, Schedule solicitations are open for new contractors to submit an offer at any time.
  • Evergreen contracting is a concept adopted by Schedules that expands the contracts for all Schedules to one five-year base contract period and three five-year option periods.
  • Variable Contract Periods Schedule periods are continuous, and will contain contracts with contract periods that commence on the Date of Award (DOA) and expire in five years (exclusive of any options) from the DOA.

All Schedules give contractors the opportunity to offer worldwide coverage. Schedule contractors may offer any of the following three categories of geographic coverage:

  • Domestic - covers delivery to the 48 contiguous states, Washington, DC, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico; and the U.S. territories;
  • Worldwide - covers delivery domestically and overseas; and
  • Overseas Only - covers delivery to overseas destinations.

How Schedules are Organized

To facilitate the contract award and buying process, Schedules are organized into broad categories of products and services offering. Schedules are further sorted into subcategories known as Special Item Numbers (SINs) and are clearly outlined in our GSA eLibrary.
For example:

Screenshot of eLibrary Schedule solicitation showing specialty Item number (SIN) breakdown

Sellers organize product and service offerings by Schedule and SIN. Buyers may align their purchases by Schedule or combine Schedules, SINs, and even multiple Schedule contractors to achieve a total solution.

Schedule descriptions, including SINs can be found on GSA eLibrary.

Veterans Affairs Schedules

Veterans Affairs (VA) Federal Supply Schedules are also listed at GSA eLibrary. GSA has delegated authority to the Department of Veterans Affairs to procure medical supplies under this program.

Last Reviewed: 2020-06-16