U.S. GSA to Hold Seminar, Net Gain Marketing to Represent Agencies

Nick Bernardo, principal of Net Gain Marketing, today announced plans to attend the U.S. General Services Administration?s (GSA) upcoming seminar, ?How to Prepare a Quality Offer,? on behalf of any collection agency interested in Federal contracting opportunities, but unable to attend the seminar in Arlington, VA, slated for October 19.

This announcement comes on the heels of yesterday?s story on CollectionIndustry.com, in which it was reported that the U.S. Senate has passed legislation enabling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hire private collection agencies to collect unpaid taxes through HR 4520 (American Jobs Creation Act of 2004). When the IRS is ready to solicit proposals from collection agencies, any resulting contracts will likely fall under Special Item Number (SIN) 520-4, Debt Collection Services. This means that only collection agencies first pre-selected by GSA as a potential vendor to the Federal government may gain the opportunity to submit a bid.

The seminar will provide an overview of the GSA schedule under which Federal debt collection contracts are administered, including basic proposal requirements, pricing, contract data, and contract administration. The goal is to educate interested agencies on what it takes to qualify to do business with the Federal government under SIN 520-4.

For a nominal fee, Net Gain Marketing will attend the seminar on your collection agency?s behalf, collect and forward to you any materials available only at the event, and provide you with insight and notes covering nuances beyond what?s available online at government websites. The service will also include the delivery of an online presentation to you and your staff. For more information, the number to call is 215-533-1680.

Nick commented, ?Lots of agency owners and managers want to get on the GSA schedule, but do not have the time to travel to Washington to even begin to learn about the structure, bureaucracy, and lingo associated with Federal bidding opportunities, let alone the time to dedicate to developing a proposal to GSA. For many agency owners or managers, it would make much more sense to engage me to fill them in rather than losing a day or more to travel.?

In a recent 12-month period, this umbrella contract has paid out more than $114 million to collection agencies that do business with the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Treasury?s Financial Management Service (FMS). While new contracts for ED are in the process of being awarded, the procurement cycle for FMS may begin during 2005.

About Net Gain Marketing: Nick Bernardo is principal of Net Gain Marketing, a collaborative network marketing agency based in Philadelphia, PA, that serves businesses in multiple industries, including the collection industry. Prior to founding the firm, Nick was marketing manager with NCO Financial Systems, Inc., the world?s largest collection agency. Nick can be reached at 215-533-1680.