The General Services Administration (GSA) announced announced on Tuesday that it is embarking on a multi-year journey to consolidate the 24 Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) into a single contract vehicle that “will have one set of terms and conditions, ensuring more consistency in contracting practices.” GSA characterized [t]he MAS transformation” as “part of [its] Federal Marketplace strategy to make the government buying and selling experience easy, efficient and modern.”

The idea of streamlining the Schedules is not new. In 2015, GSA consolidated its eight professional services schedules into a single vehicle. GSA noted at the time that the schedules “frequently overlapped, which . . . caused confusion about which [schedule] was the best fit” for meeting an agency’s needs. They further observed that some 440 contractors held multiple professional services schedule contracts so they wouldn’t be closed out of an opportunity simply because it held the wrong contract. The price of that choice was that the contractor had to cope with multiple Contracting Officers, duplicative negotiations, and be audited for compliance under each contract. Yesterday’s announcement is a welcome encore.

When combined with the “Order Level Materials” rule issued in January, it is clear that GSA is serious about making the schedules a more competitive and easy (or at least less annoying) pathway to successful commercial item purchases. One of the hits that GSA takes is the fact that the smokestack nature of the schedules makes it hard for agencies to buy and contractors to sell comprehensive solutions when a company’s capabilities can’t be sold to the Government simply because it holds the wrong contract. Hence, other Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), are considered easier to work with. NASA’s SEWP comes to mind for IT products and services.

If all goes well, GSA’s reforms have the potential to allow government purchasers to access commercial solutions that are currently difficult to buy under the schedules. Likewise, the many contractors that presently hold (and have to monitor) multiple schedule contracts will be able to streamline their contract compliance efforts.

Not that this will surprise anyone, but GSA is going to be deliberate in rolling out the consolidated schedule. Two years is the current plan. Between now and then, GSA will be looking for input. The first such effort will take place at GSA’s upcoming Industry Day on December 12, 2018. Go here for information about the who, what, where, and when.

GSA hopes the conversion from many schedules to one will usher in a new era for the schedule program. I think they might be onto something.