GSA Consolidates to Single MAS Solicitation 

After months of planning, the long awaited Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) single contract vehicle has been released! On October 1, 2019, the General Services Administration (GSA) published the single solicitation (47QSMD20R0001) that consolidates the 24 previously separate GSA schedule contracts.

The newly released single schedule solicitation streamlines MAS contract terms and conditions, eliminates redundant and conflicting requirements and reduces the number of Special Item Numbers (SINs) by more than 60 percent. All offerings under the MAS program will be organized under the following twelve large categories:

Notable Changes for GSA Schedule Contractors

SIN Structure:  The single schedule reduces 876 unique SINs to just 318, which will reside below 82 subcategories and the twelve large categories noted above. The new format aligns with government’s goal of implementing category management into the federal marketplace. It is important to note that VA Schedule contracts are not impacted, and all small business set-aside SINs remain.

Product / Service Classification: Previously, SINs were categorized by schedule number. With the consolidation, the SINs will directly correspond to North American Industrial Classification Standards (NAICS) codes, making them easier to understand and less repetitive.

Professional Services Schedule (PSS) Category Realignment: The simplification in SINs is especially noteworthy for professional services contractors. The new format further consolidates professional service-type offerings into one category. Eight SINs that were previously under schedules other than PSS are now being moved to the Professional Services Category such as “Educational Support Services” from Schedule 36. Additionally, 16 SINs that were previously under the PSS schedule, which was consolidated in 2015, now align with other large categories such as SIN 871 4 “Test and Evaluation Services” under Engineering Services on 00CORP.

Maximum Order Threshold (MOT):  The maximum order threshold for all SINs will now be at least $250,000. Previously MOTs ranged from $10,000 to $5,000,000. The MOT represents the point at which a customer should seek a price reduction for purchases over that dollar amount.

Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) Program:  Other aspects of the schedules program, such as TDR will remain unaffected by the consolidation, as they will still be based on SIN. However, contractors with multiple schedules and at least one contract on TDR, will need to decide whether to keep TDR for all SINs or revert back to Commercial Sales Practices (CSP) disclosures and the associated Price Reductions Clause (PRC). The contractor will not be allowed to have some SINs under TDR while others are left to the existing CSP and PRC regulations.

What’s Next?

The release of the solicitation brings Phase I of the consolidation effort to completion. Phase II will begin in January 2020 with the release of a Mass Modification (Mass Mod) to all current schedule holders that will update their existing terms and conditions to align with the new single vehicle. Contractors will have approximately six months to accept the Mass Mod.

Prior to the start of Phase II, we strongly encourage contractors to review the new single schedule terms and conditions to assess any impact to their compliance obligations. While contractors have until July 2020 to accept the Mass Mod, contractors cannot add new SINs to their contract until they have accepted the Mass Mod. 

Phase III will follow in mid to late 2020 and continue thereafter as on-going consolidation efforts are executed for those contractors who have multiple schedules.

For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.