Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) is now on the General Services Administration (GSA) Environmental Services Schedule (899).  TERA’s contract number is GS-10F-0369N.  

 

What is GSA? 

 

The General Services Administration (GSA) is the federal government’s procurement expert.  Its function is to assist agencies in obtaining goods and services from other agencies or outside sources, such as Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA).  GSA provides contract vehicles rather than pools of available funds.  GSA simplifies the procurement process because it has already negotiated large, multi-user contracts with set prices call GSA schedules, which are also known as Multiple Awards Schedules (MAS). 

 

To order services from the GSA:

 

1.      Prepare a Request (Request for Quote or other communication tool):

 

          a. A statement of work (a performance-based statement of work is preferred) should be prepared that outlines, at a minimum, the work to be performed, location of work, period of performance, deliverable schedule, applicable standards, acceptance criteria, and any special requirements (i.e., security clearances, travel, special knowledge, etc.).

          b. The request should include the statement of work and request the contractors (see step 2) to submit either a firm-fixed price or a ceiling price to provide the services outlined in the statement of work.

          c.  The request may ask the contractors, if necessary or appropriate, to submit a project plan for performing the task, and information on the contractor's experience and/or past performance performing similar tasks.

          d. The request should notify the contractors what basis will be used for selecting the contractor to receive the order.

 

2.      Transmit the Request to Contractors:  Based upon an initial evaluation of catalogs and pricelists, the ordering office should identify the contractors that appear to offer the best value (considering the scope of services offered, pricing and other factors such as contractors' locations, as appropriate) and transmit the request as follows:

          a.  The request shall be provided to at least three contractors if the proposed order is estimated to exceed the micro-purchase threshold, but not exceed the maximum order threshold.

 

3.      Evaluate Responses and Select the Contractor to Receive the Order:  After responses have been evaluated against the factors identified in the request, the order should be placed with the Schedule contractor that represents the best value. (See FAR 8.404.)  

 

For more information on how to use the GSA schedule, please check out the GSA website at http://www.gsa.gov/.

 

The Environmental Services Schedule (899) provides contract support for a variety of environmental consulting services in fields such as toxicology, risk assessment, and environmental training.  Below are some examples of the types of projects TERA has done. 

 

 

For more information about services TERA can provide through the GSA schedule, please Patricia Nance at 513-542-7475 x25 or nance@tera.org.