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1. What is the Contract Assess Fee (CAF)? The CAF is a fee paid by customers to cover GSA's cost of operating the Federal Supply Service Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) program. The fee is a percentage of reported sales under the GWAC contracts. [Top of Page] 2. Do customers pay the CAF in addition to the price listed by the GWAC contractor? No. The CAF is already included in the price of the item because GSA negotiated the fee into the contract price before the award was made. [Top of Page] 3. Do all GWAC contracts include the Contractor Sales Reporting and Contract Access Fee Remittance clause? New GWACs include the clause, and existing GWACs will be modified to include it. [Top of Page] 4. How do customers pay the CAF? The CAF is included in the price customer agencies pay the contractor when they place orders against a GWAC. The contractor remits the CAF due to GSA quarterly. [Top of Page] 5. How does GSA receive the CAF from contractors? GWAC contractors remit to GSA a fixed percentage of their quarterly contract sales. Each individual GWAC contains instruction for remitting the CAF. [Top of Page] 6. How do contractors know when to pay the CAF? Contractors must report contract sales to GSA within 30 calendar days following the completion of each reporting quarter. Each individual GWAC defines calendar quarters and defines four acceptable points at which contractors may report sales. Additionally, it specifies that GSA will provide the contractor with specific written instructions on remitting the CAF within 60 days of award of a new contract. If no sales occur on a contract during a quarter, the contractor is still responsible for filing the sales report by entering zeroes. [Top of Page] 7. What exactly is the GWAC Quarterly Sales Reporting System? The GWAC Quarterly Sales Reporting system is an electronic system in which contractors report sales via the Internet on a standard quarterly schedule. Each individual GWAC contains instructions for reporting sales. [Top of Page] 8. What are standard calendar quarters? The GWAC defines the respective calendar quarters as January 1-March 31, April 1-June 30, July 1-September 30, and October 1-December 31. The clause requires that contractors remit the appropriate CAF to GSA within 30 days of the end of the applicable reporting quarter. [Top of Page] 9. How is contract sales reporting accomplished? The contractor must have Internet connectivity and access to a web browser to submit sales reports electronically. The first step is to register your contract at http://gwac.gsa.gov. You may contact the VSC by telephone at (877) 495-4849 or (703) 305-6235. Following award, the GWAC Management Center will issue instructions to the contractor on utilizing these web sites. [Top of Page] 10. Why don't agencies just pay GSA directly? At the inception of the CAF, Government and industry mutually agreed that the current CAF remittance procedure would have the least impact on all parties. [Top of Page] 11. How much is the CAF? The current CAF rate is located at https://72a.gsa.gov/iffrates.cfm. The rate is set by the Commissioner, Federal Supply Service, reviewed periodically, and may be changed yearly. [Top of Page] 12. How is the CAF calculated? Each GWAC contains information on calculating the CAF. The contractor should direct any questions regarding CAF calculations to the GWAC Management Center. [Top of Page] 13. Can contractors pay the CAF by Electronic Funds Transfer or credit card? Yes. Effective April 1, 2006, GWAC Vendors may pay their CAF by Electronic Funds Transfers or Credit Cards. You will have the option of paying online at the conclusion of the sales reporting process. [Top of Page] 14. How should contractors identify payments as CAF if they are paying by check? Contractors should follow the instructions in the Contractor Sales Reporting and Contract Access Fee Remittance clause, and must provide the following information with all payments: contract number and report period. It is very important that the Contract Number is clearly stated on the check. [Top of Page] 15. Why should agencies use the GWAC's and pay the CAF instead of contracting directly? The benefits a customer received are well worth the fee, particularly when compared to the cost of customer staff time required to award a new procurement:
16. Can contractors report sales and remit fees on a contract rather than Task Order basis? The Contractor Sales Reporting and Contract Access Fee Remittance clause specifies that contractors must report sales separately for each Task Order on a contract-by-contract basis. A contractor may consolidate fees for multiple task orders under a single contract into one check, provided the check is annotated with the following identifying information: (1) contract number, (2) reporting period(s), and (3) report amounts. There is no requirement to remit the CAF by individual task orders. [Top of Page] 17. Where can contractors obtain information regarding the CAF? The ACO is the point of contact for questions regarding a specific contract. [Top of Page] 18. Should a contractor report sales and remit the fee if sales/fee for a particular contract are zero or some small amount? Yes. Once you have been awarded a task order, you will be required to begin reporting sales. Sales reports are due quarterly. The Contractor Sales Reporting clause in your GWAC defines the respective calendar quarters as January 1-March 31, April 1-June 30, July 1-September 30, and October 1-December 31. This clause, and the Contract Access Fee Remittance clause, require that contractors enter sales into the GWAC Quarterly Sales Reporting System and remit the appropriate CAF to GSA within 30 days of the end of the applicable reporting quarter. If no sales occur under a particular task order during the reporting quarter, you are required to show "zero" on the report. Contractors must remit fees quarterly for all amounts greater than zero. For example - You are issued a task order award during the month of July. Since July falls within the July 1-September 30 calendar quarter, your first sales report must be entered into the GWAC Quarterly Sales Reporting System and the appropriate Contract Access Fee submitted to GSA by the end of October. [Top of Page] 19. Can a contractor change the method of reporting sales? No, not without receiving a modification to the contract from the PCO. [Top of Page] 20. Where do I mail my CAF payment? Effective October 1, 2005 all GWAC CAF checks must be made payable to "GSA-GWAC" and remitted to the following address : General Services Administration Government Wide Acquisition Contracts - GWAC PO Box 970027 St. Louis MO 63197-0027 Remember, the contract number and report quarter covered by each CAF check must be annotated on the check or the accompanying documentation. Where multiple invoices and/ or multiple task orders under a single GWAC contract are involved, the CAF may be consolidated into one payment for that GWAC contract. Any check that includes a CAF for more than one task order must specify the amount applicable to each order. Do not include MAS and GWAC fees in the same check or payment. Also, do not include fees for multiple GWACs on the same check or payment. A separate CAF check must be sent for each GWAC contract. In addition, if you hold a MAS contract, a separate IFF check must be sent for each MAS contract. Failure to appropriately annotate checks may prevent us from crediting your account. For information on sales reporting and paying fees for MAS contracts please visit this website: http://72a.gsa.gov/. [Top of Page] |