How To Conduct a GSA Schedule Sales Analysis

Extensive competition analysis is an integral natural part of effective post-award GSA contract maintenance. Knowing how your competitors are doing is key to properly adjusting your own marketing steps as well as placing bids more efficiently. Where do you find GSA sales data to run such an analysis? Let’s review all possible sources below. Keep reading!

Where do the sales data come from in the first place?

Vendors selling to federal agencies using the GSA Schedule contract vehicle must report their GSA Schedule sales. The GSA then accumulates this data and publishes statistics with specific sales figures and reports. And there are a number of ways to peek into these reports.

GSA Schedule Sales Query Tool

The FAS SSQ+ tool is a well-known sales analysis tool that was recently updated to provide support for new Consolidated Schedules. The update also brought in a number of interesting reports and analysis modes that allow you to fetch even more data for informed decision-making.

One such option is Vendor Analysis Module. It allows you to quickly estimate the market potential for the specified SIN and instantly see the number of contracts,  the number of vendors holding these contracts, and overall reported sales per fiscal year. 

The FAS Schedule Sales Query+ is extremely helpful in finding the best niches and understated SINs, and estimating competition and financial potential. Filtering results by socio-economic category, by specific SIN number, by industry, or by Large Category allows you to narrow the results.

At first, the tool may seem overwhelming, but with a bit of practice, you will be joggling figures up and down to quickly locate the most profitable niches to pursue. Make sure to spend a day or two with this tool; this can render your future GSA contract much more profitable!

Researching GSA Advantage

GSA Advantage is a federal sales platform where vendors submit their offers and federal buyers can quickly procure what they need. But not many vendors know about GSA Advantage! can also be a great source of sales data.

The GSA’s Vendor Support Center provides a GSA Advantage Archive Sales tool. Well, technically it is not even a tool, but a set of Excel files with sales for every fiscal year since 2008. Click on the document, and see a large sheet filled with vendor sales data. Enjoy!

Check for Sales and Perform Market Research with USA Spending Tools

The third tool in our list is USASpending.gov. This website offers a very straightforward and friendly interface to look up how much various federal agencies spend.

Open the website, then click the “Award Search > Advanced Search” menu. This will open the search panel where you can choose between dozens of search criteria to refine the search, and then click “Submit” to begin your search.

USASpending is a great free tool to research your competitors before applying for a GSA Schedule or if your GSA contract extension is near.

Sum up

It’s not easy to be successful with so strong competition. But, if you know what your competitors are doing, everything becomes much easier.

Heron Nelson
 

Heron is a business blogger with a focus on personal finance and wealth management. With over 7 years of experience writing about financial topics, Heron has established herself as a trusted voice in the personal finance space. She has a deep understanding of financial concepts and strategies, and is able to explain them in a relatable and actionable way for her readers.