Can Your Tech Startup Bypass the Two-Year Rule with GSA Springboard?
For businesses interested in GSA Schedules, it can be frustrating to find out you don’t qualify because your business isn’t old enough. The GSA Springboard program was designed for young businesses interested in Schedule 70.
Typically, your business has to be older than two years to be eligible for a GSA Schedule, but with the GSA Springboard program, innovative tech companies with less than two years of experience can apply for a GSA Schedule in order to sell their new products to federal agencies.
With federal agencies, the pace of how technological needs are growing is significant, and a main factor into why the GSA Springboard program was created. With the program, the GSA is changing the way it looks at potential candidates for Schedule 70 by considering the fact that small businesses and startups are part of who is providing innovative tech products to the marketplace. The GSA recognized that the two year requirement for GSA Schedule eligibility made it incredibly difficult for businesses like these to apply for a government contract and successfully sell in the government marketplace, and implemented the Springboard program as a method to help alleviate the issue on both ends.
The goal with the GSA springboard program is to help provide federal agencies with the most up-to-date technology. By allowing younger companies in, this puts new tech in the hands of federal agencies faster, and then enables these agencies to foster new growth by having emerging tech companies’ products available for purchase.
As part of GSA’s Making it Easier (MIE) initiative, this program aims to simplify and broaden access to GSA Schedules for a diverse range of businesses. MIE facilitates entry for innovative businesses into government contracting by easing previous requirements, recognizing the challenges they face in obtaining a GSA Schedule and aiming to alleviate the strain on businesses. With MIE, GSA opens doors for more businesses to tap into the billions of dollars flowing through GSA Schedules annually.
Schedule 70 is one of the largest GSA Schedules available, and with the GSA Springboard program, new tech companies can take advantage of the $15 million that runs through this schedule alone each year. This will also help these businesses receive a boost in revenue that can help move them to the next level. The GSA Springboard program also opens the door for many small businesses who otherwise wouldn’t be able to obtain a GSA Schedule.
Does Your Business Qualify for the GSA Springboard Program?
If you want to find out if your business qualifies for the GSA Springboard program there are a few different qualifying factors than for a normal GSA Schedule. There are several substitutes for the places where newer tech companies might fall short.
For the GSA Springboard program, businesses can:
- Replace the requirement for two years of being in business with the professional experience of their executives and major employees
- Replace past business performance with the project experience of executives and major employees
- Replace showing two years of financial documentation with documentation that shows your company’s financial responsibility
These are the only requirements that change through the program. Once you complete these steps, the rest of the application can continue as a regular Schedule 70 application would. The GSA Springboard program also provides a specific support team for businesses interested in getting started with the program, and a forum for businesses to find answers and be involved with a community of other businesses involved in the Springboard program.
The Springboard program was ultimately created to make GSA Schedule 70 easier and faster to be a part of, and to help fuel growth for both businesses and federal agencies. It also specifically targets smaller businesses, who are typically disadvantaged when it comes to the GSA marketplace, and gives them a much needed boost to reach potential customers.
A benefit to the Springboard program is that any business of any size or age can apply for the program to sell their products or services to the government. The program is essentially a win for everyone. It’s great for vendors, it’s great for federal agencies, and it’s great for the tech industry as well.
The GSA Springboard program is an exciting opportunity for new businesses to get involved with GSA Schedules and provide their products to federal agencies to help evolve government departments. By making it easier for new companies to break into the government contracting world, everyone is benefiting, and Schedule 70 is more popular than ever.
