The General Services Administration created a new schedule for professional services — the Professional Services Schedule — consolidating the agency's offerings into a single contract vehicle.

The new schedule — the culmination of a year's work — launched Oct. 1 and is now open for agency use.

Previously, there were more than 5,000 professional services contracts from more than 4,500 vendors. After the consolidation, there are now 3,099 contracts under as many companies.

"Many of them had previously held up to eight contracts that supported professional services. Now they'll have one," said Tiffany Hixson, GSA regional commissioner and Professional Services Category executive. "They'll have one contracting officer and probably a couple of contract specialists that will be able to support them."

The move is also expected to save GSA a considerable amount of money in contract administration. By reducing the overhead to manage all those contracts, GSA expects a five-year savings of almost $4 million, followed by $1.29 million in savings annually after that.

"It is a time saver," said Kathy Jocoy, project manager for the Professional Services Schedule. "It's cost reduction in management of the schedules and the solicitations, not only by GSA but also by our industry partners to manage multiple vehicles to provide the same general type of services."

GSA held a training webinar for federal contracting and program officers on Oct. 8. An additional webinar for industry will be held on Oct. 21.

About Aaron Boyd

Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.

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