Under 40 U.S.C. 502(d), eligible state, local, tribal and territorial governments can buy directly from your GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Participation is voluntary, you can decline any order within five business days, and every one of those sales counts toward your reported MAS sales and Industrial Funding Fee.
With hurricane season running through November 30, county emergency managers are buying generators, pumps, debris removal, and recovery consulting right now. I spent eighteen years in federal acquisition as a Contracting Specialist and Contracting Officer at GSA, IRS, DoD, DOI, HHS, FTC, and Energy. Most schedule holders I talk to have never looked at whether their contract is even visible to these buyers.
What is the GSA Disaster Purchasing Program?
The Disaster Purchasing Program lets eligible non-federal governments place orders, or set up blanket purchase agreements (BPAs), against GSA MAS contracts when the purchase facilitates disaster preparedness or response, recovery from a presidentially declared major disaster under the Stafford Act, or recovery from terrorism or a nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack.
- Statutory authority: 40 U.S.C. 502(d), added by Public Law 109-364 in 2006 and expanded by Public Law 111-263 in 2010 to cover preparedness and response, not only post-declaration recovery.
- Scope of products and services: The statute requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to determine what qualifies. GSA states that DHS has made all MAS products and services available under the program.
- Vehicle limits: Purchases are limited to MAS contracts and authorized BPAs. GWACs and other GSA vehicles are not part of it.
- Buyer responsibility: Local officials, not GSA, are responsible for ensuring each purchase actually supports disaster preparation, response, or recovery.
Preparedness is covered. A county does not need a hurricane declaration to buy sandbag equipment or an emergency operations plan from your schedule.
How does Disaster Purchasing differ from Cooperative Purchasing?
Cooperative Purchasing under 40 U.S.C. 502(c) is narrower in what it covers but has no disaster trigger. It opens IT products and services, plus law enforcement, security, firefighting, and rescue items, to state and local buyers for any purpose. Disaster Purchasing opens the whole MAS catalog, but only for disaster-related purposes.
| Factor | Cooperative Purchasing | Disaster Purchasing |
|---|---|---|
| Statute | 40 U.S.C. 502(c) | 40 U.S.C. 502(d) |
| What can be bought | IT (the old FSC group 70) and security, law enforcement, firefighting, and rescue items and related services (FSC group 84) | All MAS products and services, per the DHS determination |
| Purpose limit | None beyond eligibility | Disaster preparedness, response, or recovery |
| Icon on GSA Advantage and eLibrary | COOP PURCH | DISAST PURCH |
| Contractor participation | Voluntary | Voluntary |
Separately, 40 U.S.C. 502(e) lets the American National Red Cross and qualified disaster relief organizations use schedules, but never to buy supplies for resale.
Who is eligible to buy from your schedule in a disaster?
Eligible buyers are state, county, city, town, and other local governments, tribal and territorial governments, and organizations created by state statute, including public school districts, community and technical colleges, and public universities. Contractors and grantees of state or local governments are not eligible buyers.
- Eligible: State emergency management agencies, county public works departments, public school boards, public universities.
- Tribal and territorial: Eligible when buying outside the authority of a self-governance compact or self-determination contract.
- Not eligible: A prime contractor doing debris removal for a county, or a nonprofit receiving a state grant, cannot order off your schedule under these programs.
- Gray areas: GSA maintains an eligibility determinations list for entities whose status is not obvious.
That last "not eligible" line matters more than contractors think. As a Contracting Officer, I saw vendors accept orders routed through a state's prime contractor on the assumption that the state's eligibility carried through. It does not. Under GSAR 552.238-114, the seller is expected to confirm the buyer is an eligible non-federal entity before accepting.
How do you opt your MAS contract into Disaster Purchasing?
You elect participation when you submit your MAS offer, or you add it afterward through a modification in eMod. Once it is active, your contract carries the Disaster Purchasing designation in eLibrary and the DISAST PURCH icon on your GSA Advantage listings, which is how state and local buyers filter for eligible sources.
- Pull up your contract in GSA eLibrary and check which state and local program icons appear next to your contract number.
- If Disaster Purchasing is missing, submit the participation change as a modification through eMod, signed by an authorized negotiator on the contract.
- After the mod is executed, confirm the icon appears on your GSA Advantage catalog and in eLibrary.
- Update your commercial sales materials and state vendor registrations to say plainly that you accept Disaster Purchasing orders on your MAS contract number.
If you hold IT or security SINs, check Cooperative Purchasing at the same time. When I reviewed mods as a Contracting Specialist, participation changes were simple. The delays came from unrelated problems, like an outdated authorized negotiator or SAM registration, that had to be fixed first.
What terms apply when a county or city places an order?
When you accept a non-federal order, a separate contract forms between you and that government. Your schedule terms flow down except the federal Disputes clause and the disputes, patent indemnity, and compliance-with-government-laws paragraphs of GSAR 552.212-4. The U.S. Government is not a party and is not liable for payment.
- Acceptance window: Under GSAR 552.238-114(c), you may reject an order for any reason within 5 business days, or within 24 hours for purchase card orders. Silence equals acceptance.
- BPAs: You are encouraged, not obligated, to enter BPAs with eligible entities and should respond to a BPA request within 5 business days.
- Added terms: The buyer may add terms required by its own statutes or ordinances as long as they do not conflict with your schedule. Read them before you accept.
- Payment: State prompt payment law applies if the buyer is subject to one; otherwise the GSAR 552.212-4 payment terms apply. Collection is entirely your responsibility.
- Fees and reporting: GSAR 552.238-80 applies, so these sales are reported and carry the Industrial Funding Fee like any other MAS sale. See our breakdown of who pays the IFF.
GSA recommends the buyer cite your MAS contract number and the Disaster Purchasing authority on the order. If that language is missing, ask for it.
Does buying off a GSA Schedule satisfy FEMA reimbursement rules?
Not automatically. FEMA grant recipients must still follow the Federal procurement standards in 2 CFR 200.317 through 200.327. FEMA's Procurement Under Grants Policy Guide treats GSA MAS purchasing programs as cooperative purchasing, and says local governments and nonprofits meet full and open competition when they follow GSA ordering procedures.
| Buyer type | What FEMA expects |
|---|---|
| State or Indian Tribe | Comply with its own state or tribal procurement rules when ordering from a schedule |
| Local government | Follow ordering procedures that satisfy local law and the minimum full and open competition requirements in 2 CFR Part 200; documented procurement policies required under 2 CFR 200.318 |
| All grant-funded buyers | Follow the granting agency's rules in addition to GSA ordering guidance |
GSA's own guidance says the same thing from the other side: buyers using grant money must follow their local procurement rules and the granting agency's requirements, and GSA recommends the Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures in GSAR Subpart 538.71. Read FEMA's Procurement Under Grants Policy Guide before you tell a county its purchase is reimbursable. That is their call and their auditor's.
What the regulation allows and what an audit accepts are two different conversations. The files that hold up show the buyer compared schedule sources and documented why it picked you. Make that comparison easy with a clean quote package.
How do federal agencies use your schedule during emergency response?
Federal buyers, including FEMA and the agencies supporting a disaster response, order from MAS under the standard FAR Subpart 8.4 ordering procedures. Emergencies do not change your contract terms, but they compress timelines, so buyers favor contractors whose catalogs, pricing, and delivery terms are already current and orderable.
- Keep your catalog live: An outdated GSA Advantage listing is invisible when an ordering official has hours, not weeks.
- Check scope: Services such as grants management, engineering, and recovery consulting only work if the right SINs are on your contract. Our post on the grants management SIN covers one that fits recovery work well.
From the Contracting Officer seat, the schedule holders who won emergency business were rarely the biggest. They were the ones whose contract was clean on the day the need arrived: current pricing, current points of contact, and no pending mods holding things up.
What should you do now?
- Check eLibrary today for the DISAST PURCH icon, and COOP PURCH if you hold IT or security SINs.
- If either is missing and you want the business, submit the participation modification in eMod before the next storm, not after.
- Build a one-page capability sheet for county and city emergency managers that states your MAS number, your program participation, and the SINs that fit preparedness and recovery.
- Set an internal rule to verify buyer eligibility and review any added terms within the 5-business-day acceptance window.
- Report every state and local sale and pay IFF on it, exactly as you do for federal sales.
Across our 70+ GSA contract awards, the contractors who capture state and local disaster work are the ones who set it up in advance. I hold FAC-C Level III and a Harvard Master of Liberal Arts, and I have managed these modifications from both sides of the desk. If you want your contract checked and your program participation, SINs, and catalog ready for emergency buyers, our GSA contract maintenance service handles the eMod work and keeps your schedule orderable year-round.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can state and local governments buy from the GSA Schedule during a hurricane?
Yes. Under the GSA Disaster Purchasing Program, authorized by 40 U.S.C. 502(d), eligible state, local, tribal, and territorial governments can buy from GSA MAS contracts for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The contractor must participate in the program, and participation is voluntary.
Does a disaster have to be declared before a county can use Disaster Purchasing?
No. A 2010 amendment added disaster preparedness and response to the statute, so purchases that prepare for a future disaster qualify. A presidential Stafford Act declaration is only required for the recovery portion of the authority.
Can I refuse a Disaster Purchasing order from a city or county?
Yes. GSAR 552.238-114 lets you reject an order from an eligible non-federal entity for any reason within 5 business days of receipt, or within 24 hours for purchase card orders. If you do not reject it in time, the order is accepted.
Do I pay the Industrial Funding Fee on state and local disaster sales?
Yes. GSAR 552.238-114 applies the sales reporting and Industrial Funding Fee requirements of GSAR 552.238-80 to sales made to eligible non-federal entities. Report them with your federal MAS sales.
Is a GSA Schedule purchase automatically reimbursable by FEMA?
No. FEMA grant recipients must still comply with 2 CFR 200.317 through 200.327. FEMA guidance says local governments and nonprofits meet full and open competition when they follow GSA ordering procedures, while states and tribes must follow their own procurement rules.
What is the difference between Cooperative Purchasing and Disaster Purchasing?
Cooperative Purchasing, under 40 U.S.C. 502(c), lets state and local buyers purchase IT and security, law enforcement, firefighting, and rescue products and services for any purpose. Disaster Purchasing, under 40 U.S.C. 502(d), opens all MAS products and services, but only for disaster-related purposes.
Can a state contractor or grantee buy off my GSA Schedule for disaster work?
No. GSA states that its state and local purchasing programs are not open to contractors and grantees of state or local governments. The order must come from the eligible government entity itself.