WASHINGTON—Three integrators here got good news last month: They have gained approval under the General Service Administration's Schedule 84 to provide security and equipment to federal agencies. Thanks to the recently passed HR 3179, the companies will now have greater access to municipal and state-government contracts as well because those agencies can now also purchase off the GSA Schedule, getting products and services at pre-negotiated prices.

It was an “arduous endeavor,” said John Krumme, president and CEO of Cam-Dex Security, based in Kansas City, Mo., who teamed with the Protection Bureau, based in Pennsylvania, and RFI Communications, based in northern California. However, “we felt the timing and the market was right” to justify a process that took some 18 months and “a significant expense.”

The three companies entered into an informal partnership to share costs. An associate with each company was designated to work on the project and the three split the cost of a consultant to guide them through the procedures. Krumme said the consultant “was critical to our ultimate award and certainly the right decision.”

Further, Krumme said, the award will benefit all of Security Net, the 22-company collective of which all three companies are a part. “We anticipate all of our Security Net partners working with us to assist in fulfillment of different contracts that we may ultimately win,” he said, “as we do currently with our 17 domestic partners and five international partners.” Of course, the domestic partners may reap more business from the GSA contracts than those internationally, but Krumme theorized that jobs in Afghanistan or Iraq may become available because of the GSA listing.

What’s Krumme’s advice for other independent integrators considering the GSA Schedule? “I don’t have any tremendous wisdom or guidance,” he said, “but there’s a tremendous amount of patience required and work that has to be done in order for it to come together for an award.”

Editor's note: The Security Industry Association has scheduled a webinar for Dec. 9, at 1 p.m. ET, that will teach you how to use teaming solutions for General Services Administration (GSA) contracts. The webinar will be conducted by Lynn de Seve, president of GSA Schedules, and the industry chair of the Advisory Council for the GSA Alliance for Quality Business Solutions. She also chairs SIA's GSA Policy Working Group. She will be joined by a government contract expert.

The webinar is free for SIA members and costs $35 for non-members.Register for the webinar on the SIA web site or contact Florence Dennis-Huskin, SIA's manager of education and training, for more information at (703) 647-8498 or fdennishuskin@siaonline.org.