GSA Unpriced Schedules – A Welcome Change Is Coming

By Jeff Ellinport, Division Counsel

The General Services Administration (GSA) might soon make a shift in federal procurement from contract-level pricing to order-level competition. That’s good for vendors because it could reduce the time it takes to get products on contract.

The Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Section 876 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (Pub. L. 115-232) was issued by GSA on August 19. It allows GSA to implement “unpriced schedules.” On Oct. 20, GSA kicked off the first of several industry “listening sessions” on how to best implement this authority.

Currently, before a GSA Schedule contract is awarded or new items added to an existing one, GSA contracting officers determine fair and reasonable prices of supplies or services (fixed price or hourly). Negotiation follows after offerors submit various data, information and documentation to support their pricing.