Professional Services Schedule Consolidated -- Frequently Asked Questions
GSA, General Services Administration (External) sent this bulletin at 03/11/2015 02:08 PM EDT
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One of the key initiatives under the Professional Services Category is to improve our contract offerings including the usability of the Multiple Awards Schedule. Currently there are over 4,400 professional services contracts across eight Schedules. The scope of the various Schedules frequently overlap, which has caused confusion about which MAS is the best fit for a federal agency’s requirements and acquisition objectives.
Multiple MAS contracts for services have also presented challenges for GSA’s industry partners, with many managing multiple MAS contracts. Currently, there are approximately 440 contractors who hold more than one professional service Schedule contract. Their contracts are negotiated independently, managed independently, and audited independently costing both contractors and GSA scarce contract administration resources.
So this year we are moving to ONE Professional Services Schedule (PSS). This effort will provide customers the ability to obtain and contractors the ability to provide total solutions to complex professional services requirements using one contract vehicle. It will also increase federal use of the MAS program; improve program efficiency through fewer contracts and fewer solicitations to manage, and reduce the federal government’s costs associated with the management of multiple Schedules/contracts.
Since starting the migration began last Fall, GSA has received numerous questions about the process. The following is a summary of the questions we've received in the past few months. It is our hope that the answers provided are helpful to the stakeholder community. We encourage you to post your questions here on Interact or email at professionalservices@gsa.gov. We will respond as soon as possible and share some of the common answers through this forum.
GSA will also be hosting monthly webinars on the Professional Services Schedule consolidation. You can find the dates, times, and webinar information on Interact.
Q: Company A currently has a Schedule 70 GSA Contract which includes SIN 132-51 for Information Technology Professional Service labor categories. With the initiative to consolidate MAS service offerings, can an offer be submitted under the Professional Service Schedule now under the 00CORP Solicitation? Or the Solicitation to be issued in March, 2015? Would you please share the link to the 00CORP Solicitation?
A: The PSS program is not a replacement for the IT Schedule 70 program so in order to participate a firm must also do business under one of the following programs - MOBIS, PES, FABs, AIMs, Environmental, Logworld, Language.
The IT SIN C132-50 is designed to serve as a complementary service to the above programs and not as a stand alone service.
Because the 00CORP solicitation is going to serve as the platform for the PSS all new offerors are encouraged to submit under the 00CORP program. The solicitation can be found at www.gsa.gov/consolidated Once the PSS solicitation is posted on October 1, 2015 all new offerors will then be directed to the PSS portal found at www.gsa.gov/psschedule but the same solicitation number (FCO-00CORP-0000C) used for 00CORP will be used for PSS.
Q: Are vendors coming in with a new offer able to have the Pathway to Success training waived?
A: If you are an existing firm who is going to be submitting a new offer due to the migration process and If the point of contact on the “Pathway to Success” certificate is still the same with the certificate being less than one year old, the firm will not be required to recertify.If you are new to do doing business with GSA, be you are required to complete the Pathway to Success and are encouraged to sign up for the Pathway to Success and New Contractor Orientation (NCO) training under the “Training” tab available at the Vendor Support Center at https://vsc.gsa.gov. For additional information associated with the eOffer process, contract Randy Sheppard, supervisor for preaward in region 10. He can be reached via email at dillan.sheppard@gsa.gov
Q: What will be the impact on the required sales minimums when multiple schedules are migrated to the new PSS?
A: There will be no impact as there is no change to the required minimum sales criteria - it is the same as it was under the single schedule programs (e.g. $25,000 in the first two years with $25,000 every year thereafter.)
For example, Company A had MOBIS, PES, and LOG and had to demonstrate $25,000 annual sales for each. They now have one contract GS-00F-022CA. This contract has SINS for MOBIS, PES, and LOG. Under PSS they would only have to demonstrate $25,000 in sales all-totaled since the single schedules become nothing more than SINs and the contract sales criteria applies to the contract only not the SINs.
Q: I have a question in regards to SIN C132-51 – if a company applies for a PSS Schedule, under a MOBIS or PES SIN, would they then be able to add SIN C132-51 after the contract has been awarded? Or do you have it awarded separately under the IT 70 Schedule? Thank you in advance for your help.
A: No, if a company applies for any SIN under PSS they can at the same time apply for one of the complementary SINs (e.g. C132-51). The PSS program is non affiliated with Schedule 70. PSS is simply “sharing” the SIN to allow for a total solution.
Q: Company B has a single MAS. We are coming up on the last year of the second option period (2/28/15-2/27/16) and have not received a letter advising of the migration process to the new Professional Services Schedule as indicated in the following document -- Professional Services Schedule - Migrations 12-1-2014. Can you please provide guidance on what we need to do in order to smoothly migrate to PSS?
A: Because you only have one contract your firm is not impacted by the migration process. The migration process only impacts firms with two or more contracts under any of the affected programs (MOBIS, PES, Environmental, Logworld, Language, AIMs, or FABs). In your case you will eventually see a mass modification issued against your contract that will change your program name to PSS and the solicitation number that governs clause updates to FCO-00CORP-0000C. The estimated date for the mass modification is August 2015. Watch Interact.gsa.gov for updates.
Q: Company C holds two GSA schedules- MOBIS (SIN 874-1 and 874-7) and IT 70 (SIN 132-51). Our MOBIS contract has recorded over $1 million in sales for FY14. We were awarded the IT 70 schedule in October and do not have sales. I have not yet been contacted in regards to migrating my GSA schedules. The FAQ stated that companies holding multiple awards should already be in the migration process. I am concerned about this based on the timelines I saw when accessing the FAQ website. If there is any assistance that you could provide, it would be greatly appreciated.
A: While it it true that your firm holds two single schedule contracts; only the MOBIS contract falls under the Professional Services Schedule (PSS). The IT Schedule is not part of the PSS program. However, while the IT Schedule itself is not part of the PSS, SIN C132.51 is complementary to the PSS schedule and can be added once any migration is complete of two or more affected contracts.
So with respect to migrations, your firm only holds one schedule and are therefore unaffected by the migration process. Instead your firm will receive a mass modification to your MOBIS schedule on or about August 1, 2015. That modification will be to change the name of your program, to PSS at which time you could submit a modification to add the IT SIN, C132-51.
Q: Is Cooperative Purchasing allowed on the new Professional Services GSA Schedule?
A: No, cooperative purchasing is not allowed under the new PSS. Keep in mind that only services under Schedule 70 - IT are sanctioned for cooperative purchasing and under the PSS program, the IT SIN supported (C132-51) is ancillary to the professional services of MOBIS, PES, etc. The intent is not that C132-51 be used as a stand alone SIN.
Q: When GSA creates the refresh or modification to effectively consolidate eight of the Professional Services Schedules to PSS, will all schedule holders receiving the modification be required at that time to recertify as to their Small Business size?
A: No only those firms that are affected by the migration process (firms who hold two or more contracts under the affected programs) will have to recertify. Everyone else stays as is.
