The GSA MAS solicitation had until recently included the following price evaluation statement for determining pricing under GSA Schedule and that was followed by contracting officers in negotiations:
GSA seeks to obtain the offer’s best price based on its evaluation of discounts, terms, conditions, and concessions offered to commercial customers. However, offers that propose Most Favored Customer pricing that is not highly competitive will not be determined fair and reasonable and will not be accepted. (Emphasis added.)
The requirements for determining fair and reasonable pricing are clearly set forth in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the General Services Acquisition Regulation (GSAR). The “highly competitive” language cannot be found in reference to, or guidance in, statute or regulation regarding the use of a “highly competitive” standard in determining fair and reasonable pricing. However based on efforts made by the Coalition for Government Procurement GSA announced that this language has been removed. GSA indicated the following statement through an Interact announcement on June 1, 2023:
Solicitation 47QSMD20R0001 – Refresh # 16 published on 5/19/2023 included changes to SCP-FSS-001 to remove language indicating that proposed pricing must be highly competitive in order to be considered fair & reasonable. This requirement is no longer in effect. However, additional changes to the provision are required to completely remove references to this language. GSA intends to make these additional changes in Refresh # 17 scheduled for July, 2023.