GSA Temporary covid waiver – GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program is a vital solution for the federal government and other customers, such as state and local governments to secure the commercial products, services and/or solutions necessary to respond to the pandemic and ensure our country is able to reopen as soon and safely as possible.

Given the strategic importance of the MAS program, GSA has issued Acquisition Letter (AL), MV-21-03 and Supplement 1 to further leverage industry resources and capabilities in support of America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AL accomplishes this by:

Temporarily waiving three (3) MAS solicitation requirements in MAS provision SCP-FSS-001, Instructions Applicable to All Offerors when a company is proposing products, services and/or solutions to directly support the Government’s COVID-19 efforts.

The AL waives:

The requirement to possess two (2) years of Corporate Experience

The requirement to submit a Relevant Project Experience for each SIN proposed

The requirement to submit Annual Financial Statements for the previous two years

The AL does not change the following:

Any other vendor instructions, for example companies are still required to submit a Corporate Experience narrative, Letters of Commitment/Supply (products), Past Performance Information, Quality Control Plans etc.

Additional category / SIN specific technical requirements outlined in the MAS Solicitation category attachments

A CO’s overarching responsibilities, such as determining fair and reasonable pricing, ensuring compliance with vendor instructions and making a responsibility determination in accordance with FAR subpart 9.1

To whom does the AL apply?

The AL applies to all MAS large categories, subcategories and SINs under the following circumstances:

New offerors proposing products, services, and/or solutions in direct support of COVID 19 efforts

Existing MAS contractors adding service SINs in direct support of COVID 19 efforts

When does the AL not apply?

Any offers or modifications that include products, services and/or solutions that do not directly support COVID-19 efforts

To VA MAS for medical equipment, supply, pharmaceutical and services

What else is GSA doing to support COVID-19 efforts?

Since the inception of the pandemic, GSA/FAS has issued several policies to leverage the MAS program to support America’s response to COVID-19, such as, but not limited to:

Deferring MAS contract cancellations for contractors that haven’t met the minimum sales criteria outlined in I-FSS-639 Contract Sales Criteria

Issuing a non-availability determination for Trade Agreement, Buy American Statute Class Determination which allows FAS CO’s to temporarily award non-TAA compliant products to support COVID-19 requirements

Purchase Exceptions from the AbilityOne Program

Implementation of Emergency Acquisition Flexibilities (increases to micro-purchase threshold and SAT)

GSA/FAS also has other mechanisms for its Federal Partners to access the vital supplies and services needed to meet the COVID-19 Pandemic. For those companies who are looking for ways to reach the Government market beyond the MAS program, the Commercial Platforms program provides an option to partner individually, or collectively with three commercial e-marketplace platforms (i.e., Amazon Business, Fisher Scientific, or Overstock Government). Full details and links to each site are available here.

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