GSA IT Schedule annual sales decline for second straight year

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff January 18, 2007

Annual sales for General Services Administration’s (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule contracts for information technology products and services declined for the second straight year in fiscal year 2006. This information was obtained through analysis by INPUT, a company that helps firms develop federal, state and local government business and helps public sector organizations achieve their objectives.

Sales declined 6.5% to $16.3 billion. This figure confirms INPUT’s July prediction. INPUT also correctly predicted that decreasing IT services sales weighed on the Schedule, off more than $600 million year-over-year.

“Overall federal IT services spending continues to grow at an attractive pace, so the decline in Schedule spending reflects a conspicuous move by buyers to other contract vehicles,” said Ashlea Higgs, analyst at INPUT .

Rising competition from department-specific multiple-award contracts, one factor contributing to the IT Schedule’s sales decline, will not ease in the near future, Higgs said. “We see more and more vendors increasing their business development investment in non-Schedule task order vehicles and in teaming with their peers to stay in front of agency buying preferences and contract consolidation, respectively,” said Higgs. “Non-Schedule contract vehicles capture a bigger share of IT spending each year. Collectively, these contracts grow at a rate several times the growth experienced by the IT budget and the IT Schedule,” she said.