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Term

BPA

Blanket purchase agreement

A simplified ordering agreement that lets a buyer make repeat purchases from you without re-competing each one.

An arrangement, often set up against a GSA Schedule contract, that lets an agency place repeat orders with you without running a new competition each time. It is not an IDIQ: a BPA typically skips the formal ceiling and minimum-guarantee structure and instead just streamlines paperwork for buying that would happen anyway. For a small business, a BPA usually means becoming the easy, pre-approved choice for one buyer's recurring needs.

In a sentence

"A BPA will be established with the awardee for office supplies over the next two years." Winning does not guarantee a dollar amount, only that you become the go-to vendor the buyer can order from without shopping around again.

Also called

  • BPA call
  • GSA Schedule BPA
  • open market BPA

Terms like this show up in every federal notice. We translate them in place, on every notice in your trade.