What do schedules contract users think?

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Fair and reasonable prices

The 1984 Competition in Contracting Act requires Multiple Award Schedule contracts and orders to get the lowest overall price from the contractor. To meet this requirement, the General Services Administration negotiates with the vendor to obtain government prices comparable to those offered to the firm’s most favored commercial customer.

The contracting officer must determine before the award that the negotiated prices are fair and reasonable. After the award, the contractor might for various reasons reduce his prices to commercial customers. Based on price reduction provisions of the negotiated contract, the government might also be entitled to the reduced prices.

Source: Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel

A panel of industry representatives and acquisition officials from the General Services Administration and other agencies want to know what schedules contract users think about the program.

Here are a few questions they’d like to ask the federal customers.


  • Why do you use the schedules?



  • Do you consider a best value to be more than price? If so, what other elements do you consider?



  • Do you seek competition when ordering from a schedule or pay the original contract price?



  • Do you believe the schedules give you the best price?



  • Do the schedules meet your needs?



  • What do you expect of the schedules program?






About the Author

Matthew Weigelt is a freelance journalist who writes about acquisition and procurement.

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