Getting on the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) is a long, rigorous process. But keeping your contract active and profitable as the years go by? That’s where the real work begins.
Two of the most important (and most confusing) parts of managing your GSA MAS contract are contract extensions and price adjustments. Handle them right, and your contract remains competitive and compliant. Handle them wrong, or ignore them, and you risk losing revenue, compliance issues, or even cancellation.
This is your guide to getting through both without losing time, money, or your contract status.
What You Need to Know About Contract Extensions: It’s Not Automatic
Your GSA MAS contract usually lasts for five years, but you can ask for three more five-year extensions. But here’s the catch: extensions don’t happen automatically. You have to work for them.
About six months before your contract expires, GSA will evaluate your performance and compliance. If everything checks out, they’ll invite you to extend. But if you’ve failed to keep your Advantage listing up to date, missed sales reporting deadlines, or let your sales fall below the minimum threshold, you could be denied.
To stay in the clear, you need to treat the extension window like a full-scale review. GSA will look at:
- Your sales history (at least $25,000 every 5 years is the minimum).
- Your compliance with modification requirements
- Whether your Advantage catalog is current
- Whether you’ve accepted all relevant mass modifications
- If you’ve responded to audits or reviews when required
If you’re within 12 months of your contract expiration, now is the time to assess your standing. Look at your sales reports, update your Advantage file, and clean up any open compliance issues. If something needs to be fixed, don’t wait for GSA to bring it up. Be proactive and get ahead of it.
Price Adjustments: You Can Raise Your Rates, But Only If You Follow the Rules
One of the biggest misconceptions in the GSA world is that pricing is locked forever. It’s not. The system lets you raise prices in certain situations, but you have to be very careful to follow the rules so that you don’t get rejected or, worse, not follow the rules.
- EPA Clause I-FSS-969 (Fixed Escalation): If your awarded price includes fixed increases over time, you don’t need to ask for a mod; just stick to the schedule.
- EPA Clause 552.216-70 (Economic Price Adjustment) is the most common for businesses that sell goods. You can ask for a price increase because of changes in the market, updates to the catalog, or other reasons, but only if your contract allows it.
If you want to raise your prices, do these things:
- Show proof of the rise, such as a new commercial catalog, changes in supplier prices, or market data.
- Make sure it follows your normal rules for discounts.
- Send the mod through eMod in the right format and with a clear explanation.
This is very important to the GSA. If your submission is unclear, messy, or not sent in on time (usually once a year), they will push back.
That being said, don’t be afraid to raise your prices when you need to. To protect your margin, you need to keep your prices up to date with rising costs in the supply chain, labor, and inflation. Simply do what you’re told.
What Happens If You Wait Too Long?
Here’s where small businesses often run into trouble. They avoid making price adjustments because the process seems tedious. Or they wait too long to request a contract extension and scramble at the last minute.
Delays cost you. If your contract lapses, you’ll be removed from GSA Advantage, locked out of eBuy, and potentially flagged for non-performance. If your pricing is outdated, you’re either losing money on every order or watching buyers pass you over for more current vendors.
The longer you wait, the more complicated it gets. And if you have to rush through an emergency mod or extension with a looming deadline, there’s more room for errors, and more chance your request will be denied.
Stay Ahead, Stay Ready
The key to survival on the GSA Schedule isn’t luck; it’s systems. You need a calendar for your contract milestones. You need a process for reviewing your pricing every six to twelve months. And you need someone on your team (or a trusted consultant) who owns the compliance side of your contract.
If GSA sees that you’re responsive, proactive, and organized, they’re far more likely to approve your requests without delay. But if you disappear between contract actions and only surface when a crisis hits, you’re setting yourself up for problems.
Need Help Managing Extensions or Pricing Mods?
At DJIG, we help small businesses stay in good standing year after year. Whether you’re preparing for a contract extension or need to submit a clean, compliant price increase, we’ll walk you through every step, no guesswork, no rejections.
Connect with us at DJIG.co and make sure your contract changes work for your business, not against it.
