GSA Schedule (Multiple Award Schedule)

How It Works

The GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS), historically called the Federal Supply Schedule and now referred to simply as the GSA Schedule, is the federal government's largest commercial buying vehicle with roughly $45 billion in annual sales across approximately 11,000 contract holders. GSA negotiates master contracts (typically 5-year base with three 5-year options, up to 20 years total) covering commercial products and services across 12 large categories (IT, professional services, facilities, furniture, industrial products, medical, security, office management, scientific, human capital, transportation, and travel). Agencies then place task orders or Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) against those Schedules without running full-and-open competitions, accelerating procurement cycle time from 12-18 months to 30-90 days. Under GSA Schedule orders, the FAR 8.405 fair-opportunity rules apply: for orders above $10,000 agencies must survey at least three schedule holders (or document why fewer is justified), and orders above $500,000 must be synopsized on GSA eBuy. The "GSA Advantage" e-commerce site lets agencies browse products and place micro-purchases directly. Top Schedule sellers include Carahsoft (IT reseller, over $5 billion in annual Schedule sales and the largest single holder), Dell, SHI, World Wide Technology, Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Deloitte. For contractors, getting on Schedule is often the first practical step to selling to the federal government, but GSA's pricing and compliance requirements are substantial: most favored customer (MFC) pricing that requires disclosing best commercial prices, Trade Agreements Act (TAA) country-of-origin rules that restrict non-designated-country products, the 0.75% Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) remitted quarterly by holders, Commercial Sales Practices disclosures, and Price Reduction Clause monitoring. GSA conducts periodic Contractor Assessments and Industrial Operations Analyst (IOA) reviews to verify compliance. A typical Schedule award takes 6-12 months from proposal submission to contract execution.

Related Terms

• Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract, A contract that establishes ceiling prices and terms but allows the government to order specific quantities as needed over a multi-year period through individual task orders.
• Task Order, An individual work order issued under a larger IDIQ contract, specifying the exact scope, deliverables, and price for a particular piece of work.
• Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), A simplified method for filling anticipated repetitive needs by setting up a "charge account" arrangement with a qualified supplier, without running a new procurement each time.
• General Services Administration (GSA), The federal agency that manages government buildings, provides acquisition services, and operates the GSA Schedule, a pre-negotiated contract vehicle used to buy commercial products and services.
• Federal Contract, A legally binding agreement between the U.S. government and a private company to provide goods or services, from fighter jets to IT consulting.