How to Start Selling to Federal Agencies That Don’t Know You Yet
Federal agencies don’t wake up one morning and decide to try a new vendor. They buy from patterns—incumbents, known SINs, familiar pricing structures, and vendors who already “fit” their procurement memory. Breaking in requires intent, patience, and a repeatable internal BD system. Not heroics. Not cold emails sprayed across .gov inboxes. A system. Below is […]
Red Flags That Trigger GSA Contract Reviews or Investigations
GSA reviews rarely come out of nowhere. They’re usually triggered—quietly—by patterns that don’t line up with what your contract says should be happening. Contractors often assume investigations start with whistleblowers or dramatic complaints. In reality, most GSA reviews begin with data mismatches, routine oversight, or something that simply doesn’t reconcile. One inconsistency turns into a […]
How to Maintain GSA Compliance If You Sell Through Partners or Resellers
Selling through partners or resellers can widen your federal footprint fast. More reach. More pipeline. More complexity. And under a GSA contract, complexity is where compliance problems quietly form. Many contractors assume that once a reseller touches the transaction, responsibility shifts. It doesn’t. GSA holds the prime contractor accountable—every time. If a partner misprices, misreports, […]
A Simple Guide to Surviving a GSA Contractor Assessment Visit (CAV)
A GSA Contractor Assessment Visit—better known as a CAV—tends to arrive with little drama and a lot of anxiety. It’s not a raid. It’s not an audit in the IRS sense. But it is a structured review of whether your GSA contract is being handled the way the government expects. For contractors new to the process, or […]
Bipartisan Senate Passage of the VA Acquisition Reform and Cost Assessment Act
When Congress reforms acquisition policy, the language usually sounds polite. This bill didn’t bother. In early December 2025, the U.S. Senate passed bipartisan legislation led by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)—with support from Sens. Jim Banks, Angus King, Mark Warner, and Mike Rounds—aimed directly at one agency: the Department of Veterans Affairs. The target wasn’t […]
GSA Readiness Checklist: Are You Really Eligible to Apply?
The Hidden Requirements That Stall 70% of Offers Every month, Capitol 50 reviews companies eager to pursue the GSA Schedule—often convinced they’re ready, polished, and only a few clicks away from submission. And yet… nearly 70% of would-be contractors hit a wall before their offer even reaches a contracting officer’s desk. The obstacle isn’t the […]
OASIS+ Phase II Is Here: What 13 Open Domains Mean for Your Federal Growth Strategy
OASIS+ just changed shape again. With Phase II, GSA has locked in a major expansion of its next-generation professional services contract and aligned it directly with Executive Order 14240, “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement.” For federal contractors, this isn’t a minor update. It’s a structural shift in how agencies will buy complex, non-IT […]
What Counts as a “Commercial Sale” Under GSA Rules? (You’d Be Surprised)
Critical for TDR, CSP, and audit protection. Commercial sales should be simple: money exchanged, product shipped, service delivered. But inside the GSA universe, the term behaves like a shapeshifter. A “commercial sale” isn’t always a clean invoice sent to a corporate buyer. Sometimes it’s a subscription discount your team offered casually last quarter. Sometimes it’s […]
How GSA Builds Your Price Reasonableness Determination (and How to Prepare)
A practical breakdown of PRC + CSP logic for today’s federal marketplace. Federal contractors often hear three letters whispered with a curious mix of respect and anxiety: PRC. Right behind it comes CSP. Together, they form the backbone of how the GSA decides whether your pricing meets the government’s definition of “reasonable.” And if you’ve ever asked […]
Do You Need Past Performance to Get on GSA? What Counts & What Doesn’t
Clarifies a top misconception for new vendors. Securing a GSA contract often looks like a labyrinth, papers stacked, acronyms swirling, and the quiet worry that your business might not have “enough” history to qualify. Capitol 50 sees this fear in nearly every new vendor conversation. The assumption goes like this: If I don’t have federal past […]