Category Archives: Federal Government Contracts

Government Small Business Contracts Are More Important than Ever

Posted by editor on August 28th, 2009

The third annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard was released by the SBA last week. The scorecard was launched at the end of fiscal year 2006 in order to provide a concise, transparent evaluation of federal agencies’ performance against their small business contracting goals. These goals are set by the SBA, and while they vary from agency to agency, the overall goal set by law is 23% of federal contracts awarded to small businesses.

Not only did federal agencies miss their small business contracting target again this year, they missed it by an even wider margin than last year: only 21.5% of contracts were awarded to small businesses in FY2008, down from 22% in FY2007. Only one federal agency, the General Services Administration, met small business contracting goals in all 5 categories.

When the SBA first released the scorecard in 2007, I wrote about Small Business Opportunities with the Federal Procurement Scorecard. These tips still hold true today. Targeting agencies that regularly fall short of small business contracting goals is a great way to increase government business. Before you start, make sure to:

Register your business with the SBA.
Secure any additional certifications such as Woman-Owned or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business.
Collect references, and have an up-to-date business plan close at hand.
Search out the freshest possible contact information for decision makers at your target agency.

Once you’ve found your target agencies and the contact information for relevant buyers and decision makers, you can start marketing your business with the added confidence that the federal agencies you’re targeting have a keen interest in bringing in more small business contractors.

For more tips on selling to the government, read the Government Marketing section.

Government Bids & Contract Awards 2009

Posted by editor on August 6th, 2009

The White House Office of Management and Budget recently announced a series of government contracting reforms that are slated to save $40 billion a year. The reforms are taking a 3-pronged approach, targeting improved acquisition, workforce management, and contractor accountability. Government contractors can do themselves a huge favor by following this sort of contracting news – it helps you plan your resources to be as competitive as possible with your government bids.

Government Bids – What’s Changing in 2009

In an effort to reduce waste, part of the contract reform initiative requires government agencies to reduce total contract spending by 7% over the next 2 years. Some of the ways the OMB suggests agencies achieve this goal include:

Ending unnecessary contracts, by terminating existing contracts and rescinding RFPs for new contracts that are deemed wasteful or unnecessary.
Striving to purchase at lower prices for both goods and services.
Revamping contract processes to change criteria for what gets contracted out, including a drastic reduction in sole-source and cost-reimbursement contracts, which are deemed high-risk for overspending.
Increasing in-house capabilities, so more tasks are performed by government agency personnel rather than by contractors.

This reduction in contracting activity will reduce the number of total government contracts available at all levels of government. This will mean that there will most likely be more government bids submitted for each available contract – in some cases a few more, but in some cases a lot more. Staying competitive will be more important than ever.

In order to combat these new increased levels of competition, use government business intelligence to find out what other companies submit government bids for contracts your company has won or would like to win. You’ll need to tailor your government bid to highlight your strengths in comparison to your competitors’ weaknesses. In a time of increased competition, it’s vital to find out about upcoming projects as early as possible, so you can make smart decisions about whether or not to submit a bid. For more on this topic, read Bidding on Government Contracts – To Bid or Not to Bid?

Government Contract Awards – What’s Changing in 2009

Contract reforms aren’t stopping with the government bid; focus on waste reduction and best value will continue once government contracts have been awarded. Going forward, all US government agencies will be required to post contractor performance evaluations of all contracts in PPIRS (the Past Performance Information Retrieval System). While the FAR already required US government agencies to consider past performance information when awarding a contract, officially requiring government agencies to use PPIRS will increase the amount, frequency and level of detail in government contract performance reviews.

Once you are awarded a government contract, it is now more important than ever to provide excellent value to the government agency. This will mean top-notch customer service, transparency in reporting, and coming in at or under budget whenever possible. Your performance on government contracts will now not only affect your ability to win future contract awards with that agency, but also with other US government agencies, who will now have more access to your performance information. For more on this topic, read Great Customer Service Today Will Mean US Government Contracts Tomorrow.

Federal RFPs – Anatomy of a Federal Request for Proposals

Posted by editor on May 26th, 2009

At the state and local level, government RFPs can vary immensely in size, structure and content. Experience with one local agency’s RFP format and bidding process might not necessarily help a contractor navigate another agency’s RFP. Thanks to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), however, the same cannot be said of federal RFPs. In fact, part 15 of the FAR dictates a uniform federal RFP format for most federal contracts.

Anatomy of a Federal RFP

Like most government documents, a federal RFP tends to be thick and full of difficult-to-understand, bureaucratic language. Understanding the format of a federal RFP can make bidding on federal contracts much easier. It gives you a good sense of where to look in the RFP document for specific requirements, and if you’re having trouble deciphering the government-speak, it helps to know what the section that’s giving you trouble is all about.

Unfortunately, the FAR is just as hard to read – if not harder – than a standard federal RFP. It’s a document designed to lay out regulations in no uncertain terms, and is heavy with legal language. This is a good thing for contract lawyers, and for the federal government, but for a contractor trying to decipher a federal RFP, the FAR can be a confusing and frustrating read.

To help combat that confusion, Onvia has put together a complimentary whitepaper on the basic anatomy of a federal RFP. We walk you through the uniform federal RFP format from start to finish, breaking down each section’s requirements into easy-to-read language. Refer back to this walkthrough as you prepare your proposal – it will clue you in on where to look for requirements such as pricing format, statement of work, and more.

Complimentary download: Anatomy of an RFP

Federal Government Bid Opportunities

Posted by editor on April 30th, 2009

There are hundreds of government agencies at the federal level, and each one of them uses government contractors to provide a wide variety of goods and services, from office supplies to IT consulting to engineering and construction. This means that each year, there are thousands of federal government bid opportunities. Many government contractors might think that there are simply no federal government bid opportunities available for their business. However, the number of opportunities out there is large enough that most contractors should be able to find a federal agency that buys what they sell. The real challenge is finding all the federal government bid opportunities that apply to your business, and doing so in enough time to put together a strong federal bid. Read more…

How Architects can Land a Government Contract

Posted by editor on February 27th, 2009

Architectural Record recently posted a great article for any architects or architecture firms looking to break into the lucrative government contracting sphere. As the private sector economy continues to slow down, more and more businesses - especially those in the architecture, engineering and construction industries - are turning to the government in hopes of landing contracts stemming from the economic stimulus (for more on this topic, see our Succeed in an Economic Crisis section).

How Architects Can Land a Government Contract features a variety of best practices for breaking into the contracting world. Long-time Government Contracting Best Practices readers will recognize strategies such as partnering and teaming and using Procurement Technical Assistance Centers to get a foot in the door. The article also includes practical real-world advice from contracting experts including Gerald Hines, chair of the Public Architects Committee for the American Institute of Architects; Anthony Bell, chief of small business programs at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Carl Roeling, president and CEO of SmithGroup.

I recommend this article to any architect who wants a beginner or refresher course on government contracting.

To read the full article, click here.

Government Contracting Best Practices