Selling to the Government Through a Reseller: Your Options as a Manufacturer or Distributor

Agencies buy ordinary commercial products every day: tools, equipment, supplies, parts. Many manufacturers and distributors never see that demand, because they have no federal sales team and no plan to build one. That does not mean the sales are out of reach. It means you have to pick a route into them.

This article lays out the routes, what each one asks of you in time and compliance, where a small reseller fits, and what a reseller will need from you to quote your product. We write as a supplier and reseller that sits on the other side of the award, so we will be plain about what the work involves.

The short version

None of these is the right answer for every company. The rest of this article explains what sits behind each row.

Route 1: sell direct

Selling direct means your company is the contractor. You register in SAM.gov, which is free, and you maintain that registration every year. Then you find solicitations, build quotes, make the representations and certifications the solicitation asks for, take the award, ship, invoice through the system the contract names, and chase payment.

What it costs you is mostly attention. Someone has to read every solicitation closely, including the amendments, because the requirements change from one to the next. Someone has to know which clauses apply to your product, from country of origin to the telecommunications restrictions in Section 889. And someone has to answer the contracting officer when a receiving office rejects a shipment. If you already have a team that sells to large commercial accounts with formal purchasing rules, some of that is familiar. Much of it is not.

Direct selling makes sense when federal work will be a steady share of your revenue and you are willing to staff for it. It is a poor fit for a company that wants to fill the occasional government order.

Route 2: get your own GSA Schedule

The General Services Administration runs the Multiple Award Schedule program. A company on a schedule has pre-negotiated terms, and agencies can order from it with less competition work on their side. For a manufacturer with strong federal demand, that is a real advantage.

It is also a major commitment. A schedule offer is a substantial submission, the negotiation covers pricing and terms, and the contract then carries ongoing administration and reporting for as long as you hold it. We will not walk through the process here, because the program changes and the current instructions belong to GSA, but we will say it takes significant effort, and you should read the requirements on gsa.gov before deciding.

Two points are worth knowing before you commit. First, a schedule gets you onto a list. It does not generate orders. Agencies still have to find you and decide to buy. Second, many purchases never touch a schedule at all, because buyers can and do solicit quotes on the open market for supplies. A schedule is one channel, not the only one, and it is not a prerequisite for selling to the government.

Route 3: sell through resellers

In this route, a reseller holds the contract with the government. The reseller registers, finds the requirement, quotes your product, takes the award, and buys from you or your distributor to fill it. You supply the product and the paperwork. The government's contract is with the reseller, not with you.

That distinction decides who carries the work and who carries the obligation:

• Registration and representations. The reseller maintains its SAM registration and makes the representations the solicitation asks for.
• Quoting. The reseller reads the solicitation, prices the lines and submits the quote by the deadline.
• Delivery. The reseller is responsible for getting the right item to the delivery point, including shipments that go straight from your warehouse to the agency.
• Invoicing and collection. The reseller invoices after delivery, follows the payment system the contract names, and chases the money. We cover that in getting paid when a reseller sells to the government.

What you give up is control over the customer relationship and the final price. What you get is a federal sale without a federal function. For a manufacturer or distributor with no federal sales team, that trade is often the right one.

Where a small business reseller helps

Some federal supply purchases are set aside for small businesses. When a supply requirement is set aside, the small business that wins it generally has to meet the limits in the SBA's nonmanufacturer rule at 13 CFR 121.406. In general terms, a small business that resells a product rather than making it has to supply the end item of a small business manufacturer made in the United States, unless a waiver applies. The rule limits the reseller to 500 employees and requires it to be primarily a trade business that normally sells that type of item. Waivers can be granted for a single solicitation or for a whole class of products, and the rule has other details and exceptions, including how it works on orders with several different items. It does not override the Buy American Act or the Trade Agreements Act.

What that means for you:

• If you are a small business manufacturer, your product can be the one a small reseller needs. That makes you easier to quote on set-aside work.
• If you are not a small manufacturer, a small reseller may need a waiver to offer your product on a set-aside, or the solicitation may not be set aside at all. A reseller that knows the rule will check this before it quotes, not after.
• If you distribute rather than manufacture, the rule looks at who made the end item. Your distribution does not change that.

Whether a solicitation is set aside is the government's decision, and size and status are determined per solicitation. Check the rule on ecfr.gov for the current text, and treat our summary as orientation, not a determination.

What a reseller needs from you

If you pick this route, the speed and quality of what you hand over decides whether a reseller can quote your product at all. Many government quotes close in days. A reseller cannot wait two weeks for a letter. Prepare this package once, keep it current, and you become the manufacturer a reseller can quote quickly.

1. A letter of authorization. When a requirement names a brand or asks for an authorized source, the reseller needs your signed letter before it quotes. We do not quote without it. What the letter should say is covered in what a manufacturer's letter of authorization should say.
2. Country of origin by part number, and a TAA statement. Federal buyers ask where the product was made, line by line, and many purchases carry Trade Agreements Act requirements. A document that lists the country of origin for each part number, with your position on TAA, saves a research project on every quote. See the TAA compliance statement.
3. Section 889 assurance for electronics. If your product is electronic or contains electronic components, the reseller needs to be able to support its representation about covered telecommunications equipment. A written statement from you, tied to your products, is what makes that possible. See Section 889 supplier certification.
4. A commercial price list with part numbers. Quotes are built line by line against exact part numbers. A current list with the manufacturer's part number, description and unit of issue is the base document. Distributor and volume pricing, clearly labeled, lets the reseller find the right price for a large order.
5. Drop-ship ability, with the government's PO on the packing slip. Many orders ship straight from your warehouse to the agency, with the reseller never touching the product. Your fulfillment team needs to be able to put the government's purchase order number and the delivery details on the paperwork, and to ship under a ship-to address the reseller provides. Receiving offices match shipments to orders, and a packing slip with only your internal numbers causes rejections. See drop-shipping to a federal agency.
6. Warranty terms that pass through. The government expects warranty coverage on the product it receives. If your standard warranty applies to a product sold through an authorized reseller, say so in writing and say how a claim is handled, so the end user has one contact and the reseller can open the claim on their behalf.

You do not need to produce all of this for a particular reseller. You need it once, ready to send. Keep a short "government sales sheet" with these documents together, and a named person who answers questions the same day.

What you should expect back

A reseller is borrowing your name and your product to win a government sale. In return, you are entitled to expect:

• No surprise channel conflict. The reseller tells you what it is quoting, to which agency and on what requirement, before it submits, or at minimum before the award. It does not quote your product against your own direct sale or another authorized reseller without a conversation first.
• Clean POs. The purchase order you receive matches the award line for line, with the part numbers you published, a clear ship-to address, a delivery date and the reference the packing slip needs.
• Payment on terms. The reseller pays you under the terms you agreed, even if the government has not paid it yet. If the agreement ties your payment to the government's, that should be in writing before the quote, not discovered at invoice time.
• Honest communication when a requirement changes. If an amendment changes the item, the quantity or the delivery, you hear about it right away.

Agree these in writing before the first order. A reseller that is hesitant to commit to them is telling you something.

Choosing between the routes

You do not have to pick one for good. Many companies start with resellers, learn what the demand looks like and which agencies buy, and later decide whether a direct program or a schedule is worth the investment. Others stay with resellers permanently, because the volume does not justify a federal function.

A practical way to decide:

1. Estimate how much federal demand exists for your product by looking at what agencies actually buy. USAspending.gov shows federal spending by product category and awarding agency.
2. Ask whether you can staff a federal function, or only want the sales.
3. Prepare the manufacturer package above. You need it for every route.
4. Start with one or two resellers and watch what the first orders look like.

If the numbers say federal demand is thin or irregular, resellers are the low-commitment way to find out. If it is large and recurring, the case for a direct program or a schedule gets stronger. See the federal spending profile for NAICS 423990 for the kind of product mix that moves through reseller channels.

How Lunula Supply handles it

We are a small, minority-owned, SAM-registered federal contractor in Chicago, with active DoD contract history. We source commercial products from manufacturers and distributors, quote, and drop-ship to the agency. When we work with a manufacturer, this is how it runs:

• We get your letter of authorization before we quote any brand-name or authorized-source requirement, and we do not quote without it.
• We send country of origin, authorization letters and representations with the quote or order, so the buyer does not have to ask.
• We always try for bulk or distributor pricing, and we label the channel (manufacturer, distributor or retail) on every sourcing line. Retail is a labeled fallback, never a silent one.
• We confirm every order line by line in writing and verify availability of the exact item before it ships. We ask before any substitution.
• We keep a running order report for each award, with partials, backorders and tracking.
• We invoice after delivery through the system the contract names, and one person stays the contact from acknowledgment through warranty.

If you make or distribute a product and want to see whether it fits a federal sale, contact us or see what we supply. For the buyer's view of the same process, read what to expect from a government supplier.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a GSA Schedule to sell to the government?

No. Agencies buy commercial products on the open market all the time, and a reseller can quote them without a schedule. A schedule is one channel, and it takes significant effort to obtain and maintain. GSA publishes the current requirements on gsa.gov.

Who is responsible for delivery and payment when a reseller sells my product?

The reseller holds the contract, so it is responsible to the government for delivery, invoicing and collection. Your obligations come from your agreement with the reseller, such as shipping on time and providing the paperwork. Put payment terms between you and the reseller in writing before the first order.

What is the nonmanufacturer rule and why does it matter to me?

It is an SBA rule at 13 CFR 121.406 that applies when a small business resells a product on a supply contract set aside for small businesses. In general, the reseller must supply the end item of a small business manufacturer made in the U.S., unless a waiver applies. If you are a small manufacturer, your product can be the one a small reseller needs.

What is the difference between selling direct and selling through a reseller?

Selling direct puts your company on the contract, with your own SAM registration, quoting, delivery and invoicing. Selling through a reseller puts the reseller on the contract, and you supply the product and the compliance paperwork. You trade some control over the customer relationship and price for far less federal overhead.

General information, not legal advice. References were checked against acquisition.gov, ecfr.gov and gsa.gov on the publish date. Your contract's terms control.