I am in the same boat and will watch this thread with interest. I was
told by some folks that you need to dedicate a person half-time to keep
up with things and estimate about 10,000 to get on the contract. That
seems very expensive, so I am wondering if they were right.

jjoegall1956@yahoo.com wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am marketing fairly generic software to large enterprises. I am now
> attempting to market the same product to the US government.
>
> Already, a few US agencies have purchased small quantities of my
> product. They have done this without my putting my products on a GSA.
>
> The time has come to get serious and get that GSA schedule filled
out.
>
> My questions:
>
> 1. Does it matter WHOSE GSA I use? That is, I have a number of
options:
>
> a) I could create my own -- but I probably should hire one person to
> spend a fair amount of time administering that application process as
> well as the schedule itself, once awarded
>
> b) I could find a large outfit -- such as GTSI -- and work hard to
get
> onto their schedule -- but I fear that all that would happen is that
> GTSI would look at my extremely small sales and tell me that,
relative
> to the other products they sell, keeping me on THEIR schedule costs
> more than the amount they need to invest to maintain my SKUs.
>
> c) I could get on just any GSA, just so long as I don't increase
their
> costs by much.
>
> I am leaning toward option c, assuming that this approach will allow
me
> to get on a schedule more rapidly and will keep my expenses low.
>
> However, do government buyers care what GSA I am on? Are agencies
> required to purchase off of specific schedules, or banned from using
> other schedules?
>
> 2. Pricing: I assume that the pricing should be formulated according
to
> the following scheme:
>
> My current list price, minus a discount of some percent. That
discount
> must be at least equal to, and perhaps better than, the discount I
> offer to my commercial customers.
>
> If I use another company's GSA, the price I come up with would be
their
> "cost." In turn, that company marks up my 'cost' by a certain percent
> that is based on the agreement that the GSA holder has with the
> government.
>
> Thus, the price the government pays would be equal to my rate card,
> minus the discount, plus the GSA holder's markup.
>
> Am I right so far?
>
> 3. If so, can I provide points back to the GSA holder? This is common
> practice in the commercial world.
>
> For instance, in a commercial setting, I may sell through a
distributor
> at a discounted price. The distributor may require a "marketing" fee,
> which represents his cost of including product in his catalog. In
> addition, the distributor may negotiate additional points "on the
back
> end."
>
> This back end stuff is something I find distasteful. But when working
> for other companies, I found that Tech Data put a lot of pressure on
my
> company to both increase sales, invest in their marketing programs,
and
> provide several points back at the end of each quarter.
>
> Is this permitted when selling to the US government?
>
> I look forward to your replies.