Open-enrollment contracts: The quick way to jump into statewide term contracts

Published: May 29, 2014

Contract Awards

Statewide term contracts help state and local contractors start selling more quickly to many governments off of one contract. With statewide term contracts, vendors only need to qualify once and can sell for many years after, making them a popular purchasing vehicle to save time and money. For vendors new to the state and local market, or those looking to expand their sales footprint, open-enrollment contracts are great starting points to sell to a state without having to wait for a new solicitation or qualification period.

Potential vendors can apply to get on open-enrollment contracts throughout the term of a contract. The eligibility of the vendor is typically based on predetermined criteria by the state or is established by state agencies’ qualification rules. This means that state agencies may negotiate their contracts at any time throughout the contract term. States with open-enrollment contracts include Ohio and Pennsylvania, among others found in Deltek’s GovWin IQ state and local term contracts database.

One of Ohio’s requirements for its open-enrollment contracts, or State Term Schedules (STS), is for vendors to provide the state with federal GSA pricing if they have a GSA contract in place. If vendors do not have a GSA schedule in place, then they must provide the most favored customer (MFC) pricing in order to be awarded – guaranteeing the best price for state agencies purchasing off those contracts.

Another example of an open-enrollment contract is Pennsylvania’s two-way radio communications equipment and accessories contract, which opens for new pre-qualified vendors to apply every six months throughout the term of the contract, in January and July.

The state and local term contracts database has more than 725 open-enrollment contracts, of which more than 265 are currently active. Deltek’s database includes pricing line items for each contract to help vendors gain insight into their competitors’ pricing prior to submitting an application to get on the contract.

If you want to sell to state and local governments and better understand statewide term contracts, take a look at the GovWin IQ term contract resource. This will help answer questions about which states currently have active open-enrollment contracts, where your competitors hold contracts and what their pricing is, how states qualify vendors, and which governments can use these contracts.

With more than 14,000 statewide term IT and federal GSA contracts, GovWin IQ’s term contract resource is also a great place to find a variety of upcoming opportunities. To learn more about upcoming term contract opportunities and Deltek’s recommendations for vendors looking to qualify for these contracts, visit Deltek’s Term Contracts Top Opportunities for FY 2014 report, here.

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