“The GSA is basically the federal government’s office managers, providing things like office space, desks, and cars to other agencies”
GSA is involved in a lot more than Desks. Nearly everything the govt buys can be done through the GSA, doesn’t have to be but a lot is.
GSA is the only self funded department. They get a % of everything purchased through them, which is then used for dept costs. So it actually comes out of the profit margin for the businesses selling through the GSA.
GSA does purchase alot of things for the Government, but DOD still buys the most.. You are correct on the other items as GSA runs it self pretty much like a business.. For the most part, they receive funding by getting agencies to buy through them and GSA bills the agency for the cost + adminstrative costs a little bit of margin to fund future investments.