Obtain Government Contracts

Obtaining Government Contracts for Your Small Business

Most small businesses are not aware of the extensive opportunities available to them by selling to the government. And if made aware, they do not know where or how to take advantage of this vast part of the business world that offers special advantages to small business.

Web-based firms using high-pressure sales tactics offer “how to” assistance to small businesses in the form of qualifying your company to make bids on government business. And some purport to go further and do the marketing and bid work required to achieve promised awards for your business. Be careful. Not everything is as advertised. A sales program to the government must be tailored to fit your business. It requires a serious commitment from the business owner.

The registration/qualification process starts with Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and goes on to include a potential myiad of additional registration steps depending on 1) your marketing objectives and 2) the profile of your business. Government solicitations for goods and services take several forms. Some are more suited to your business than others. For example, some government agencies must offer a certain percent of solicitations to disadvantaged small business. Only businesses within this profile are allowed to bid on these selected solicitations. If your business qualifies as a disadvantaged small business and you have completed all pertinent registrations etc., you will want to bid on these selected solicitations where, by definition, competition is limited.

While on the surface this all seems straight forward, it is not. The challenges come in three forms: 1) locating solicitations that “fit” your business, 2) getting started without a “track record” and 3) completing bids correctly and in enough volume to achieve your sales targets.

FIT

Beyond matching your business profile with the government opportunities offered, you need to match the product/service and geographical markets of your business with the appropriate government opportunities. A solicitation for electrical services in Atlanta does not fit your plumbing business in Chicago. Finding local agencies that need your product/service is not easy. The multi-agency federal solicitations available on websites such as FedBizOpps by no means list all federal solicitations. Furthermore, competition on these easy-access sites is keen. The local agency with its own web site that qualifies suppliers independently offers the best chance of obtaining awards. Finding these local opportunities requires a certain amount of detective work and very few of the so-called “government contract assistance” firms will provide this type of help.

TRACK RECORD

Getting started means you have to convince that first procurement officer that you will perform. He/she must be convinced without the benefit of knowing your performance history servicing the government (because, as yet, you have no history). Innovation is required to convince that first procurement officer (or local government purchasing agent) of your abilities and track record outside of government contracts. However, once that first Federal award is completed in good order, your company performance has a written track record in the form of PPIRS (Past Performance Information Retrieval System). “Effective July 1, 2009, the (Federal government) requires agencies to post all contractor performance evaluations in PPIRS. … PPIRS is a web-enabled, enterprise application that provides timely and pertinent contractor past performance information to the Department of Defense and Federal acquisition community for use in making source selection decisions.” In short, you get a report card that is available to all Federal agencies.

GETTING IT DONE

The completion of bids may require electronic filing that uses specified software. Or, it may require the completion of certain forms, some of which are quite involved.

Even if properly filed with solicitations that fit your business, you obviously will not win ever bid you make. Based on an estimated win/bid ratio you must have the resources (manpower) to locate and generate the volume of bids needed to provide the desired volume of awards.

The professionals at EagleSharp have given new life to many small businesses over the years by introducing them to the world of government contracts. In many cases, EagleSharp consultants have worked closely with clients to implement sales and marketing plans that resulted in awards from the U.S. Navy (a sonar assembly for detecting enemy submarines), Argon National Laboratories (electrical maintenance contract) and the U.S. Army (installation of windows in headquarters building), not to mention all the local governments awards obtained. Most every type of business has a product/service that some government agency requires, and most small businesses overlook this opportunity.

SUMMARY

The “boiler plate” approach to contract work with the government seldom works. Even registration should be done in a way that reflects an overall marketing and sales plan. It is not enough to “get started” and hope that somehow awards will happen. Small business can make effective use of professional consultants who are well-versed in this very complex part of the business world. As complex as it may be, it is one of the few areas left in the U.S. economy still going strong in spite of the recession.