6 Things Every CEO Should Know About GSA Proposals
Businesses that determine that a GSA Schedule contract is a necessary selling tool for federal sales soon realize that obtaining one means writing a GSA Schedule proposal. The proposal is a means to an end: more government sales.
The customary next step is to start researching the best way to go about completing the GSA Schedule proposal. The ultimate aim of the research is to justify whether to spend money on the effort or not.
Fedmarket estimates that the majority of GSA Schedule proposal writing is outsourced in part or fully to GSA Schedule proposal preparation specialists. Why spend the money? Simply, because you reach your goal of increased federal sales faster and at a reduced cost.
Simply, You Need to Get it Right, First Time Around Remember, this is not a passport application; this is a proposal for award of a federal government contract. Fedmarket estimates that about half of all in-house-written GSA Schedule proposals are rejected outright without further consideration upon being reviewed for the first time by GSA. It may take GSA three, four, even six months to undertake this initial review.
The reality of this is that GSA is overwhelmed by proposals and the quickest way to get a proposal off their desk is to reject it. The reasons for rejection can be trivial ranging from formatting inconsistencies to the misuse of common terms that are adversely interpreted by GSA.
So, if you do not have the expertise in-house to not only be compliant but also give GSA a product that they will entertain, you run the risk of adding insult to injury and find yourself six months down the road without having achieved your goal of contract award, and needing to start from scratch.
Opportunity Cost
The longer it takes to obtain your GSA Schedule contract award, the more money you are not making. The longer it takes you to be awarded, the more money your competitors that have already been awarded a GSA Schedule contract are winning at your expense.
The longer it takes your staff to complete the GSA Schedule proposal process, the more dollars you are expending, sometimes with no end in sight. Read more on this topic in the Direct Costs section below.
Direct Costs
Say that over the course of months it takes a single person four man-weeks to research, write, price, compile, print and/or obtain a digital certificate, and finally submit your GSA Schedule proposal. Fedmarket cannot do the math for you, but we can tell you that we are talking of man-weeks. Multiply these by your hourly direct costs for your resource and you are quickly looking at significant labor costs to have an inexperienced person wading through the confusing and sometimes outright nonsense GSA Schedule proposal waters.
Proposal Refreshes
If your in-house proposal writing effort is going to take longer than a few months, you run the risk of hitting the solicitation refresh wall. From time to time, GSA publishes a new version of the solicitation and your half-written proposal is all of a sudden in need of overhaul in order to meet the changed requirements of this new version.
Unnecessary Research
Another time sink is the unnecessary research that many find themselves doing in order to chase down a particular detail of the proposal. For example, some of the GSA Schedule solicitations call for reseller documentation. Well, depending on circumstances you may or not need to fulfill the requirements around this item. The reality is that this type of research is not the best use of your time because it pertains to a domain of expertise that is not yours.
The Wear and Tear on Your People
Pick your superstar and watch him or her fail at the simple but not easy task of compiling a winning GSA Schedule proposal. Is this the best way to motivate the superstar? Fedmarket thinks not. Many a time, we have people calling in saying that after going through months of GSA proposal stasis; they have not only have not moved the ball forward but have alienated their best people resources.
Fedmarket Delivers Value
The reason why Fedmarket GSA Schedule proposal services exist is that they bring true value to your organization. The benefits of working with Fedmarket may be summarized as follows.
| GSA Proposal Challenge | Fedmarket's Value |
|---|---|
| You Need to Get it Right, First Time Around | Fedmarket mitigates the risk of months of lost time through its tried and true methodology to GSA Schedule proposal completion, negotiation, and award. |
| Opportunity Cost | Fedmarket reduces the possibility of your losing federal government business because of the lack of a closing mechanism since it allows you to submit a GSA Schedule proposal within the shortest time-frame. |
| Direct Costs | Fedmarket's efficiency and low pricing save you dollars over using in-house resources. |
| Proposal Refreshes | Fedmarket shields you from the vagaries of bureaucratic updates by allowing you to complete the proposal exercise in a timely and comprehensive manner. |
| Unnecessary Research | Fedmarket helps you gain laser-sharp focus on the aspects of the GSA proposal that are truly important and avoids you spinning your wheels on red herring, minor details. |
| The Wear and Tear on Your People | Fedmarket prevents demoralizing productivity loss by working with your staff through every step of the GSA proposal process. |
With a 20 + year history, let Fedmarket allow you to reach your goal of increased federal sales faster and at a reduced cost. See the next page for service and pricing details.
Call (888) 661-4094 x 2 and make the right GSA Schedule proposal decision, now.
