A-1 Supply Company gets GSA Schedule
A-1 Supply Company is a woman-owned small business based in Fayetteville, NC, and was recently nominated for a prestigious award recognizing them as a leader in the area of Woman Owned Small Business. They've been in business since 1990 as a distributor of janitorial, safety, maintenance, and industrial supplies. In 2005, they decided to aggressively market their line of environmental products to the federal government.
After surveying the federal market and listening to their potential customers, A-1 decided that obtaining a General Services Administration (GSA) schedule was exactly what they needed to effectively tap into the government market. They were not sure how to go about the GSA process and were told that it could take 8-10 months to receive their GSA contract, as the paperwork was overwhelming. A-1's National Marketing Director, Diana Potts, had already received great assistance from PTAC with state and federal registrations, plus applying for HUBZone certification. "We knew we needed assistance, so we called the one person who knew how to work with GSA, our local PTAC counselor." Beginning in May, Diana worked with her PTAC counselor in preparing their proposal and was prepared to submit the proposal by August.
After only six weeks, GSA approved their schedule! Diana couldn't believe the
process was so quick, "Working with the PTAC shortened the time to get
on schedule because they could answer our questions and review our proposal."
To date, A-1 has already received their first order through GSA, which was shipped
to Japan. And not only did PTAC contribute to their company winning the GSA
award, but they also received their HUBZone certification on September 20th!
Having been awarded this GSA Schedule, a five-year contract with possible extensions
for a total of twenty years, A-1 now has the opportunity to sell through GSA
for a long time to come.