On October 1, 2019, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued its much-anticipated consolidated schedule solicitation, merging 24 multiple award schedules (MAS) into a single schedule for products, services and solutions. (See GSA announcement.)

Under MAS (also commonly referred to as Federal Supply Schedules and the GSA Schedules), the GSA “establishes long-term, governmentwide contracts with commercial firms offering more than 10 million commercial supplies and services that federal, state and local agencies order directly from GSA Schedule contractors, or through the GSA Advantage!^® online shopping and ordering system,” according to the GSA.

The GSA’s issuance of the consolidated schedule solicitation represents the initial phase of MAS consolidation. The GSA reports, “At this time, only new contracts will be placed on the consolidated schedule solicitation, which streamlines and simplifies the order process for new contractors. Contractors already on Schedule will not be affected by the new solicitation until the mass modification takes effect in calendar year 2020.”

Further, the GSA states, “Federal agencies should see no disruptions to their purchasing practices during the transition.”

According to the GSA, “The MAS transformation is part of GSA’s Federal Marketplace strategy to make the government buying and selling experience easy, efficient and modern. It supports GSA’s strategic goal to establish the agency as the premier provider of efficient and effective acquisition solutions across the government.” (See previous Bradley blog post.)

The GSA reports that approximately $31 billion dollars is spent through MAS each year.