Find Teaming Partners for Winning Government Bids

If your small business can fulfill part, but not all of a government contract, you can join forces with another company to get the job done. The first step in teaming with other businesses on government bids is to identify potential partners. When you’re teaming on government bids at the state and local level, your best bet is to network with other regional businesses whose expertise complements your own. Personal relationships, word of mouth, and your ongoing involvement in your business community will help you find good teaming partners for government bids.

Teaming Agreements For Government Bids

Other, less personal, resources include business associations and publications — and such online services as the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Procurement Access and Marketing Network, also knows as PRO-Net. PRO-Net is a free online service for small businesses that helps companies find business partners for teaming. You can search PRO-Net for potential collaborators and list your business on the service so that other businesses can find you for possible teaming agreements on government bids.

Of course, before teaming with another business you must always do a thorough check on its financial and business standing. You can ask your potential government bid partner for an exchange of financial information (often dependent on signing confidentiality agreements). And, of course, you can always conduct research on the Internet.

Ideally, you and a potential teaming partner will work together on a few small government bids before getting ready to bid on large government contracts. This way, you’ll develop techniques for working together smoothly, and you’ll also develop a track record to demonstrate your compatibility to the contracting officials.

Once you’ve identified a contract you want to pursue and a potential partner, you’ll want to negotiate and draft a teaming agreement for the government bid. A good teaming agreement is carefully written and covers a lot of issues, including:

• Protection of confidentiality and data exchanged while negotiating the teaming agreement and writing the government proposal.
• Whether the government prime contractor is obliged to give the government subcontract to the company it has a teaming agreement with.
• Whether the government subcontractor teaming partner will be allowed to participate in negotiations with the government agency.
• How the government subcontractor will be paid.
• At what point the government teaming agreement will no longer be in effect.
• You may want to seek expert business and legal advice to ensure that your teaming agreement promotes your company’s business objectives and protects its legal rights.

Small businesses sometimes feel that their inability to fulfill government bids without assistance will count as a weakness, but demonstrating the ability for teaming with another capable business can turn this potential weakness into a competitive strength.

Jermaine Hargraves said,

October 24, 2009 @ 5:56 pm

I would like to know if your company helps summit a bid.

editor said,

October 26, 2009 @ 7:44 am

Hi Jermaine,

No, we don’t - you’ll have to submit bids directly to the government agency. What we do is help businesses find available government projects and give them the tools they need to win them.

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