The General Services Administration (GSA) launched a pilot on May 1 that aims to give Federal contractors quick and easy access to update their catalogs on GSA Advantage! – the agency’s central purchasing website.
According to a GSA press release, the modern, web-based FAS Catalog Platform (FCP) is designed to make it significantly simpler for Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contractors to access and manage product and service details. The new platform is a long-awaited replacement for the Schedule Input Program.
“The FCP will help contractors keep their catalogs current, compliant, and competitive,” Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Sonny Hashmi said in a statement. “This new application promotes a strong federal marketplace for our customers and is a huge improvement for our industry partners.”
According to the GSA, the new platform has modern features designed to make it easier for contractors to develop and maintain high quality catalogs. Those include automated data validation checks, a central hub to review all catalog actions and statuses, and access to catalog history.
The FCP reduces data entry needs and improves data integrity by integrating with GSA contract writing systems, the agency said. This ensures GSA Advantage! receives timely updates to catalog information for customers making purchasing decisions.
The FCP also automatically provides a new compliance and pricing report directly to contractors, promoting the development of competitive and compliant catalogs.
GSA noted that the pilot is “off to a strong start,” with the first few users successfully processing their baseline modification and publishing their catalogs to GSA Advantage!.
The pilot will run through the end of this fiscal year, and will be followed by a phased transition of all MAS contractors to the new platform in October 2023.
GSA also noted that the FCP is an agile software project, which means there is more to come. The initial pilot launch is the minimum viable product and is focused on MAS products. The system will be enhanced with new features and capabilities, GSA said, including the ability to manage MAS services and MAS-based blanket purchase agreements. More information about services and BPAs will be shared in the future.
