Know About The GSA Schedule 36 And Its Benefits

To empower small businesses that are in the United State, the government has developed several programs that support emerging entrepreneurs to do business in the federal market in a hassle-free way. These government programs allow small-scale vendors to apply for a chance to supply various goods and services to the government agencies of the United States. The government agencies award the contracts to the successful vendors so that they can sell products and services to their government clients. The government agencies have the responsibility of administrating the GSA program. Thus, they process the applications and proposals received from vendors.

There are different categories in the GSA Schedule program and GSA Schedule 36 is one of them. The GSA Schedule 36 program allows vendors to sell certain kinds of products and services to the government of the United States.

In this blog, we are going to let you know about the GSA Schedule 36. We will also talk about the benefits that you can get through the GSA Schedule 36.

Know about GSA Schedule 36

GSA Schedule 36 refers to the section of the GSA Schedule program that allows small businesses to supply to the federal government of the United States and its agencies with office products that are related to imaging documents.The GSA Schedule 36 is also known as the GSA Office Imaging Schedule. A vendor that successfully applies to it, gets a chance to supply items under this schedule. It allows such vendors to supply government agencies with products such as printers, standard copiers, and fax machines. It also includes other products that vendors can supply through GSA Schedule 36 and these are office cabinets and filing systems, transcriptions and dictation machines, projectors, date and time stamps, security applications, and electronic whiteboards for office equipment. The vendors may also be asked to supply paper money counters, cash registers, coin sorters, document identification systems, digital duplicators, mailing machines and related software, optical imaging systems, and copier rental plans.

Know the benefits of the GSA Schedule 36 program

Now it is time to discuss the benefits of getting into the GSA Schedule 36 program.

This GSA program is considered a leading acquisition vehicle for the government and that is why the program is worth a lot. The program purchases products and services from vendors which is worth about $50 billion every year. Small businesses in the United States are awarded up to 80% of the total government contracts under the GSA Schedule 36 program. Small businesses represent up to 36% percent of the value of the contracts that are awarded. The GSA Schedule 36 has been developed to offer fast and effective contracting options to vendors and government agencies.

The vendors need to go through a selection process before they can qualify as approved government contractors. Pricing matters are considered to be the most difficult part. To make a deal successfully the vendors have to agree on a fair rate with the government agencies. You can consider hiring a consultant to get navigation through the detailed process. Approved businesses find that there is less competition for contracts compared to the normal public procurement processes. They also save a substantial amount of money that would have been spent on the bidding process for various government contracts. The vendors can also close deals within a couple of weeks instead of months which is another advantage of the GSA Schedule 36.

After getting your business approved don’t wait for getting contracting opportunities. Your business will need to actively promote its products and services to various federal agencies in order to obtain government contracts. 

Steps to become a contract holder through GSA Schedule 36 

We have broken down the procedure into a couple of steps so that it becomes easier for the readers to understand. Simply follow the steps that are mentioned below to become a contract holder through the GSA Schedule 36 program.

• Learn about government contracting. 
• Find out the ways to sell products and services to the government. 
• Know how to access contracting opportunities. 
• Conduct thorough market research. 
• Compete in the federal market to obtain government contracts. 
• Get your business certified as a small business in the federal market. 
• Become a Schedule holder. 
• Obtain government contracts. 
• Manage the government contracts that you have obtained. 
• Comply with contractual requirements. 
• Handle contract modifications.

Conclusion

Now you know about the GSA Schedule 36 program and its benefits. You have also got to know the steps to become a contract holder through the GSA Schedule 36 program. So wait no more and obtain government contracts.