Most new GSA contractor mistakes are not dramatic legal failures. They are ordinary operating mistakes that compound: chasing the wrong SINs, treating award as guaranteed revenue, discounting without thinking through pricing clauses, or neglecting reporting and catalog upkeep once the contract is live.
The mistakes that show up most often
- Pursuing the contract before the business is actually ready for it.
- Using overly broad or weakly supported SIN selection.
- Submitting pricing that looks acceptable but is poorly documented.
- Doing no real post-award marketing or RFQ monitoring.
- Letting compliance live in nobody’s job description.
Why these mistakes happen
They usually happen because companies see the Schedule as a trophy instead of an operating platform. Once you treat the contract as a system that has to be built, launched, maintained, and sold through, the mistake pattern becomes much easier to avoid.
Read next: step-by-step application guide, compliance checklist, and marketing your Schedule.