I know, I’m as shocked as the rest of you. But according to the General Services Administration, the planned consolidation of the 24 Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) into a single, unified schedule is going to happen, and it’s going to happen soon (at least by Federal contracting standards). Yesterday, GSA released issued an advance notice announcement of its intention to “consolidate the current 24 Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) and release a new single Schedule for product, services, and solutions on October 1, 2019”. As part of the consolidation process, GSA will release a new MAS Solicitation, with updated evaluation criteria, requirements, and terms and conditions.

Of course, if you’re a current schedule holder, have applied for a schedule, or are thinking about applying for one, you might be wondering “What does this mean for me?!” Well, GSA has provided a handy FAQ which might answer some of your questions. Highlights include:

  • “It’s business as usual for both existing vendors and organizations currently in the process of pursuing a Schedule”. There will be a Mass Modification issued during the 2020 Fiscal Year for all existing contract holders with new terms and conditions. Schedule holders will retain their current numbers (they will “work with” contractors with multiple schedules to “determine the best solution”);
  • Schedules will be organized through “Government-Wide Category Management“, which maps Product Service Codes (PSCs) to one of 19 “spend categories”, 10 of which are “common”, and 9 of which are “defense-centric”. Special Item Numbers (SINs) will still exist, but it seems that GSA hasn’t completed its review and analysis of the SINs available across the 24 soon-to-be-replaced schedules. They promise that when they’re done, they’ll put the SINs out for public comment.
  • Companies in the middle of the application process will need to accept the updated terms and conditions of the revised solicitation, but GSA will continue to make awards during the consolidation and related events.

You may have questions beyond these three items. Well, GSA has answers, or at least webinars! There are two coming up on September 17 and September 19, both from 3-4 PM EDT. Questions can also be submitted via the GSA Interact page, or via e-mail at maspmo@gsa.gov.

I’ll go through the supporting documentation that GSA released and will update this post if I find anything interesting. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact me at ed.wang@capitolhilllegal.com or through the Contact link. Thanks, and happy early Labor Day!