01 Nov 2016

GSA Schedule- 8(a) Certification

A GSA Schedule and 8(a) Certification is becoming the one-two punch of Federal Contracting. Of the 20,899 firms currently on active GSA Schedules 3,621 of these schedules are held by 8(a) Certified Firms. There are only approximately 7,400 8(a) firms in total and construction firms in most cases are not eligible for GSA Schedule. Therefore 8(a) firms account for 17% of all Schedule Holders and almost half of all 8(a) firms have GSA Schedules. This is a surprisingly high number when you consider that 8(a) sales account for approximately 7-8% of federal procurement or $30.8 billion. There are several advantages that a GSA Schedule provides for an 8(a) firm:

1. GSA Advantage Listing which is part of a GSA Schedule (the federal governments Amazon or Yellow Pages) provides exposure to federal buyers where they can go and seek out firms that provide your products or services that have an 8(a) Certification.
2. GSA Schedule demonstrates to the Federal Buyers that the 8(a) firms pricing has been properly analyzed is reasonable and in line with Federal Expectations.
3. The GSA Schedule provides a contracting vehicle which in some cases can be a simpler solution to even sole sourcing the product or service.
4. D&B Open Ratings as part of a GSA Schedule provide information about the quality of the work being performed by the 8(a) firm to their past customer.
5. A GSA Schedule demonstrates to the Federal buyer that the firm is committed to doing business with the Federal Government.

Below are the list of Top GSA Schedules, Dollar Sales on that Schedule and the number/percentage of 8(a) Firms that are on that particular schedule:

Schedule #	Schedule Description	Schedule Sales	Total # of Firms	8(a) Firms on Schedule	Parentage 8(a) Firms
CORP	The Consolidated Schedule	$808,532,883	359	166	46%
23 V	Automotive Superstore	$217,516,248	284	3	1%
36	Office Imaging and Document Solution	$723,454,615	514	73	14%
03FAC	Facilities Maintenance and Management	$481,365,929	481	274	57%
48	Transportation Delivery and Relocation Solutions	$578,363,526	194	21	11%
51 V	Hardware Super Store	$602,519,036	639	19	3%
58 I	Professional Audio/Video Telemetry Tracking, Recording, etc.	$151,789,589	348	32	9%
66	Scientific Equipment and Services	$656,707,103	773	41	5%
67	Photocopy Equipment and Related Supplies	$34,003,380	113	3	3%
70	Information Technology Equipment, Software Services	$14,434,856,538	7,098	1,042	15%
71	Furniture	$1,036,485,420	746	160	21%
71 II K	Comprehensive Furniture Management Services	$25,477,355	198	36	18%
72	Furniture and Floor Coverings	$46,078,376	158	3	2%
73	Food Service, Hospitality, Cleaning	$214,371,718	862	120	14%
81 I B	Packing and Packaging Supplies and Services	$101,169,287	208	12	6%
84	Total Solutions for Law Enforcement, Security, Facilities Maintenance, Fire, Rescue	$2,011,629,701	1973	152	8%
520	Financial and Business Solutions (FABS)	$1,914,127,170	486	334	69%
599	Travel Services Solutions	$315,130,098	49	6	12%
736	Temporary Administrative and Professional Staffing Services	$107,648,679	358	223	62%
738 II	Language Services	$127,693,010	139	28	20%
871	Professional Engineering Services	$2,801,631,367	874=6	242	28%
874	Mission Oriented Business Integration Services (MOBIS)	$4,445,445,865	2719	420	15%
874 V	Logistics Worldwide (Logworld)	$669,104,160	289	66	23%
899	Environmental Services	$408,377,843	1035	145	14%
	Total	$32,913,478,896	20,899	3,621	17%