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General Instructions

Section
Managing My GSA Contract
Topic
Contractor Start-up Kit

Using FCP to Establish a Catalog on Advantage 

Step 1: Read

Step 2: Register 

If you do not register first, you will encounter errors in FCP, and you will not be able to login to eBuy. Note: you will not be able to respond to eBuy requests until you have an approved catalog on GSA Advantage.

  • All Authorized Negotiators who wish to manage the Advantage catalog must register for FCP using their FAS ID at catalog.gsa.gov/register.

If you need help establishing a FAS ID, see this post for resources.

Step 3: Submit your Seller Profile 

  • Login into catalog.gsa.gov and submit your Seller profile, which establishes contractor details on GSA Advantage.  View the followingFAQs for how your information will appear on GSA Advantage, eLibrary, and eBuy.
  • Load all information as reflected in your awarded contract, such as minimum order requirement, and ensure Order POC information is correct.
  • Ensure Catalog Offerings (Product File, Services Plus File, or Price Proposal Template (PPT) referred to as legacy PPTs) are correct as this will dictate requirements for loading to GSA Advantage. 

For more information about the Seller Profile, see the Seller Profile FAQs, the How to Select Catalog Offerings Infographic, or the First Time Seller Profile Update video on the Training Playlist. 

Step 4: Prepare 

While waiting for Seller Profile approval, prepare for Step 5: Baseline. 

  • Prepare your awarded  Product File or Services Plus File with all required information for publishing to GSA Advantage.
  • Prepare your Terms & Conditions File
    • Vendors offering Special Item Numbers (SINs) that use specific SIN templates should prepare their Price List via the Terms & Conditions (T&C) file. This is limited to vendors using legacy PPTs.
    • Vendors using the Product File and/or Services Plus File should prepare a T&C file in accordance with I-FSS-600 (without any pricing). 

For more information, see the Product & Services Plus File FAQ, Error / Validations FAQ, or the Training Playlist which contains videos like “What is the Services Plus File” and “Product File & Error Remediation”. 

Step 5: Baseline Action 

Once the Seller Profile is approved, vendors must use the Baseline action to establish their authoritative catalog / price list for GSA Advantage. (This is required for Product and Services Plus Files to publish your offerings to GSA Advantage. For the limited vendors using legacy PPTs, skip this step and move to T&C file upload.)

  • This action must be first initiated in eMod as a “Catalog Baseline Mod”.
  • Open a Baseline Action in FCP, and load the Product File or Services Plus File associated with the awarded contract.
  • Address any errors, warnings, or compliance flags as applicable. Submit the file to eMod and submit mod for approval.
  • Upon approval, all details will be published to GSA Advantage.
  • For vendors requiring use of both the Product File and Services Plus File, this step must be completed twice to submit both files
    • These will be separate Catalog Baseline Modifications. One is required for each file type.

For more information, see the Baseline FAQ or the Training Playlist which contains videos like “Baseline Products Catalog Action” and “Baseline Services Catalog Action”

Step 6: Upload Terms & Conditions (T&C) File

Once the Baseline is approved, this step is required to publish a T&C file to eLibrary and GSA Advantage.

  • Load a T&C file that reflects the terms of the awarded contract.
  • Do not include any pricing that is included on the Product and/or Services Plus File
  • The T&C file should only include a Price List for the limited vendors using a legacy PPT.

Once the T&C File is approved, onboarding is complete. 

  • All catalog information will be available on GSA Advantage. Please visit GSA Advantage to ensure all details are published as expected.
  • If not, open up a subsequent modification/FCP action to make changes. 

Questions?

Contract Questions

If you have questions concerning your Schedule contract terms and conditions, please contact your GSA or Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Contracting Officer.

System Questions

If you have questions concerning the preparation and submission of your electronic catalog using FCP, contact the Vendor Support Center (VSC) at  vendor.support@gsa.gov or call 877-495-4849 (M-F 8:30-5:30 PM ET).

Advantage Questions

If you have general questions regarding the GSA Advantage shopping system, e-mail gsa.advantage@gsa.gov or call 877-472-3777 (select option 2).

FCP Office Hours

FAS Catalog Platform office hours are available weekly. Log in at catalog.gsa.gov and visit the Help page to access office hours information.  

Resources

For more information about using FCP, please visit catalog.gsa.gov/help where you will find:

  • User Guides: Getting Started, Managing Products Catalog, Managing Services Catalog
  • FAQs: Tons of information that can be searched via keyword.
  • Lookup & Reference: Guides about allowable characters, status meanings, mod mapping, and more
  • How to videos: Detailed, step by step videos of various actions in FCP
  • Infographics: Informational content about various FCP processes 

Additional Information

How does GSA identify a product?

GSA uniquely identifies each product using a combination of your contract number plus the manufacturer part number and manufacturer name. Each product you submit must have a unique manufacturer part number + manufacturer name combination. Part numbers are limited to 40 characters. Longer numbers will receive automated errors.

Vendors must also include Universal Product Codes (UPC) if required and when available.

Vendors should note that Manufacturer Names, Part Numbers, and Services Unique Catalog ID (UCID) can not be updated via an FCP Change Action. Please ensure this information is accurate upon initial upload, or a subsequent Delete and Add will be required. 

Should I submit photos with my products?

Yes. Photos provide the best shopping experience for customers and give you an edge when it comes down to the customer's final purchase decision. Customers using GSA Advantage can also limit their search results to only those products with photos. 

Photos must be submitted as a ZIP file via FCP.  File size, resolution, and format requirements for upload can be found in the FCP Photo FAQ. 

Please note:

  • Photos must be product-specific.
  • Avoid company logos or generic images.
  • Photo file names must be referenced on the Product File as named in the ZIP file to successfully render to Advantage. 

For more information about SIN specific requirements as it pertains to UPCs, photos, and maximum order limit, please use this lookup table. 

How are purchase orders issued by GSA Advantage?

GSA sends all purchase orders to MAS contractors via the GSA Purchase Order (PO) Portal web site, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), or XML depending upon the vendor preference and capabilities

  • The PO Portal web site allows you to easily view or print your GSA Advantage purchase orders, or you may download your orders in a number of formats including XLS, TXT, XML, or PDF.
  • The PO Portal also allows you to send the order status to customers via GSA Advantage.
  • The PO Portal web site can initially only be accessed by the order status POC listed in your catalog. You can add additional POCs within the PO Portal.
  • If you wish to receive EDI or XML purchase orders, please email edistat@gsa.gov.

How do I provide order status to my customers?

Please note - providing order status for GSA Advantage orders is mandatory. 

Providing order status to your customer must be done through GSA platforms to ensure complete transparency. 

  • You can submit GSA Advantage order status via EDI/cXML or the Purchase Order Portal, which updates both GSA and your customers.
  • Customers are sent an email each time their order status changes, reducing the number of phone calls you may receive.

In order to be compliant, you must provide order status through one of the following methods on Advantage:

  • EDI: For those doing EDI, the 855 and 856 transaction sets documentation can be found on the VSC website.  If you want to start providing order status via EDI, or validate whether you're providing EDI transmission sets accurately to GSA, please email edistat@gsa.gov or call 703-605-9444.
  • Purchase Order (PO) Portal: The GSA Advantage PO Portal website allows you to conveniently send a status update email to your customer(s) on every order sent to you via GSA Advantage.  For more details, please see this short video on how to use PO Portal.
  • cXML: Contractors may also provide status back through cXML. For more information, please call our helpdesk number at 703-605-9444 or email edistat@gsa.gov.

For more information on order status, please review the Resources on VSC including a FAQ.

What will my data look like in GSA Advantage?

Take a look at GSA Advantage to get a better understanding of how the system operates, and more specifically, how your products and services will appear to federal customers. 

  • Product Files will render as detailed GSA Advantage pages. 

Any photos referenced in the Product File must be loaded via ZIP file using the same photo file name to publish. 

  • Services Plus Files will render as a standard Price List in downloadable Excel format.

Any products that can not be ordered via Advantage / are not click-to-buy should be included on the Services Plus File instead.

  • SIN Specific Price Proposal Templates will not render to GSA Advantage. Vendors using legacy PPTs must include their Price List in their Terms & Conditions (T&C) file. This file will render to GSA Advantage.

Offerings that can not be represented on the Product File or Services Plus File may also use this path with Contracting Officer approval. 

Once your catalog data is online, you should check it frequently to make sure it appears as you had intended. If not, open up a subsequent modification/FCP action to make the applicable changes (e.g. Economic Price Adjustment, Product Descriptive Change).