Tag: federal contracting

Navy Awards A Total $240M For Environmental Remediation Projects

Posted on by Eric Coffie

The following are awarded a total $240,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for environmental remediation projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of responsibility (AOR):

  • Bethel-Tech Pacific JV | Anchorage, Alaska
  • ECC Environmental | Burlingame, California
  • CAPE-Weston | Irvine, California

Bethel-Tech Pacific JV is being awarded an initial task order at $189,037 to evaluate land use controls at Marine Corps Logistic Base, Barstow, California. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by July 2023. All work on this contract will be performed primarily within the NAVFAC Southwest AOR. The work to be performed provides for environmental remediation actions; removal actions; remedial design; expedited and emergency response actions; pilot and treatability studies; remedial systems operation and maintenance; corrective actions; and groundwater monitoring and other related activities associated with returning sites to safe and acceptable levels of contamination. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months.

This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website and 18 proposals were received.

Work is expected to be completed by August 2025.

How Can I Become A Middleman In The Federal Market?

Posted on by Eric Coffie

As you may have known by now, the federal government is looking to buy a lot of products and services from the private sectors. They have billions of budget to cater to each of their governments agency’s needs. And as a small business, you may have already considered working with them become a middleman in the federal market. 

However, there are basic requirements for government contractors that you should meet. But we won’t tackle much about that here. In this podcast, we are listening in with Beruk as we tackle an overview of how to prepare and start your journey to succeed to become a middleman in the federal market.

FEDERAL CONTRACTING AND “WARDOGS”

Today’s caller, Beruk, posed a question, “How can I become a middleman in the federal market?” Beruk opened up that he just graduated with a bachelor in economics. He shared that his interest in the federal market was inspired by the movie WarDogs. 

Based on a true story and directed by Todd Phillips, “War Dogs” follows two friends in their early 20s living in Miami Beach during the Iraq War. They exploited a little-known government initiative that allows small businesses to bid on the U.S. Military contracts. They started small and further enjoyed raking in big money and are living the high life as the movie progresses.

Watching WarDogs is kind of an entry level homework of what you can expect and do with federal contracting.

However, the federal contracting process is quite different from contracting with private agencies. Mainly because the contracts are regulated to encourage a competitive marketplace. This is to guarantee that the taxpayer’s money is properly used and promotes healthy socio economic goals.

Moreover, the government holds special rights in the contract that include changing its terms and condition and even abruptly ends it. 

Lastly, the claims and legal actions of contractors must follow procedures of Contract Disputes Act as the federal government is a sovereign entity.

Now, that may come off as something difficult. And there have been plenty of myths going around that the government doesn’t pay. 

FEDBID AND FREE COURSES ON GOVCON

However, there are plenty of resources on learning the ropes in the federal marketplace that deals with frequently asked questions and concerns. And most importantly deals with these misconceptions.

I advised Beruk that his concerns are all tackled in the resources available for free on my website at govcongiants.com. Basically, the course is a rundown of what you’ll need to get started and it also proves that you don’t need a degree to start this business, only the willingness to learn.

It also highlights how someone who isn’t certified can get access to government contracts and plan their bids. It also teaches exact strategies and the process we used to land contacts. And to ultimately answer Beruk’s question on how to become a middleman in a federal market with only the internet and a cellphone.

BUILD YOUR NETWORK

But fast forwards to after a few months of learning the courses we offered on the website. Or simply setting expectations of taking courses and doing your own homework. You should already be actively looking for eligible companies that are certified government contracts.

Because the truth is, there are a lot of businesses who can provide their products and services to the government. However, they are simply not aware of it. And this is how you come in and do the market research. 

These businesses don’t know how to do business development simply because they’re not putting themselves out there and letting the government know they exist.

And you can add value to these companies by providing them a proposal. Creating a proposal is also offered on the course.

And when for example, you can show decision makers of these companies that within say a week. A list of all the potential clients, customers, partners, and protegees that they could work with in the federal government or in their area.

They are going to start listening to you. They’re gonna pay attention, they’re gonna sit up and they’re gonna ask you to tell them more.

It’s all about how you approach these entrepreneurs and businesses. But the first thing is you have to learn and become familiar and understand this stuff yourself through the courses.

If you start telling someone, “Hey! Listen, you know, I know about government contracts,  and I think that I can help add some value to your company or any company who’s looking for it in that marketplace.” You start having a conversation and really quickly you’ll meet people that want what you offer. 

But you will need to overcome another hurdle and that is to build your network and set up your LLC. 

LLC (Limited Liability Company)

The next step or now that you’ve got their attention. You’ll need to start providing them with a price for the product.

The government has accepted your bid but how do you buy these products?

For example, you offer to sell the government hard drives. And you need to order 50 of them for $200 a piece.

Where do you get that kind of money?

How do you buy that product to sell to the government because the government’s not gonna pay you upfront.

This is where you need to get supplier credit and vendor credit. That’s where creating your LLC is very important. When you create your LLC you set up an actual business.

You can go and become a vendor or supplier to the people who make that product with LLC and we have a video on that at govcongiant.com.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CREATE AN INCOME IN THE FEDERAL MARKET?

Beruk provided an interesting question. To be entirely honest, people can work for months to years to become a middleman in the federal market before they can see any income. But that is because they aren’t actually doing anything. 

It’s not just about signing up in FedBid and thinking that’s all you’ve got to do. That is far from the truth. 

Your success depends on how active you are doing your market research. It depends on yourself. For one, I cited that I had college students who went to sell telescopes to the government in just a few months.

Simply put, if you are looking at the fedbid every day and you are actively bidding jobs. In four to six weeks, you can land a contract. But again, that is if you are actively doing it.

KNOWING WHERE TO START IN THE FEDERAL MARKET

In summary, before you think about going further into the federal market. One needs to do more homework as a lot of questions can be answered in free courses and resources. 

What you really want to do in opportunities to consult with others who are in the same business is to ask about the complicated concepts that aren’t tackled in any videos or books. 

Sonia Mundra (AK): Doing Business as an Alaskan Native Corporation (ANC)

Posted on by Eric Coffie

You have to be prepared for an administrative burden when you start to do business with the federal government. Sonia Mundra, President of Chenega Analytics Business Solutions has provided us insight on how taxing and expensive government contracting can actually be.

However, Mundra is dedicated in sharing her expertise and helping entrepreneurs and businesses effectively navigate the process. Her discussion also provides an insider’s look into the tools and forming the right mindset needed in order to be successful in federal contracting.

 

ABOUT SONIA MUNDRA AND CHENEGA ANALYTICS

Last 2017, Ms. Sonia Mundra became the President of Chenega Analytics Business Solutions (CABS), a subsidiary of Chenega Corporation. They have been doing business with the federal government contracting community since 1989. 

Ms. Mundra has over 15 years of combined experience as a Certified Public Accountant, Project Management Professional (PMP), and a certified Government Blockchain Consultant. 

She is the professional that you’d want to consult when you consider diving into federal contracting processes and blockchains. She has assists federal and commercial agencies to implement information solutions that include storage, digitization, data migration, cloud storage, and security.

CABS is also a small disadvantaged business (SDB) who received its 8(a) certification last September 2018. They are also an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC), that enables them to receive direct awards from all federal government agencies up to $22M without the need for justification and approval. 

Their current contracts and past performance have nearly included all DoD agencies, DHS and most Fed Civ agencies.  

 

NUMBERS AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

Ms. Mundra has always been a numbers oriented person. But she advises businesses to not replace communication and relationships by relying purely on SLA’s as she believes it is a very tone-deaf thing to do.

“Customers still need TLC (Tender Love and Care) at times. And you gotta reach out and touch them to make sure that relationship is good,” she says.

SLAs or Service Level Agreements defines the level of service expected by a customer from a supplier. It lays out specific metrics that customers can answer or leave as a feedback.

Although SLAs are a critical component for any outsourcing and technology vendor contract, SLA can SLA metrics will vary depending on the services being provided. But its approach should be kept as simple as possible to avoid confusion and excessive costs.

 

CALCULATING PROBABILITY OF WIN

Truthfully, you won’t be able to see your future without looking at your past performances. Your previous stats are actually a great source for insight to your PWIN. However, what is Probability of Win, exactly?

Probability of Win (PWIN) is by its name the probability of winning a particular opportunity. It is a tool that can help you assess where you stand at a given point in time.

Although Ms. Mondra says that PWIN can be quite subjective. But when used properly, it can help financially-oriented people to weigh in the financial value of a project and assist capture-oriented individuals to assess where they are on the opportunity. 

In federal contracts, PWIN is used in competitive bidding. 

Competitive Bidding is the process when companies will put together their best proposal and compete for a specific project. The bidding is actually beneficial because it makes the environment competitive which means that small agencies are able to keep up with larger companies since the costs will remain low. 

And the government issuing the project can simply wait to look for the most qualified companies to do the work.

 

TOOLS BEING USED BY BUSINESS ANALYTICS

In addition, knowledge has always been power. And so with tools like calculator for PWIN, we have Deltek GovWin IQ and beta.SAM.gov. 

These are critical resources in developing and refining a long term growth strategy especially with business developments that deal with selling to the federal or public sector.

In order to optimize your sales processes, government bids and contract awards, GovWin and BetaSam are tools that’ll assist you in planning in advance for Government Bids, Request for Proposals and Contract Vehicles that are to be released even before taking action.

They are vital for those companies who are looking to piece together a proactive business development strategies. These platforms cover opportunities that range from months to even years before contracts go out to bid.

These tools can also help your government sales team in developing a long-term actionable pipeline. And it is a foolproof strategy in getting ahead of the competition. 

Because, by arming yourself with more information than your competitors. Companies will use these tools to identify which agency contacts, spending trends and government purchasing history can help build a powerful proposal for the bids.

 

UNDERSTANDING BLOCKCHAINS

If you have been following banking, investments, or cryptocurrency, you may be familiar with “blockchain”, the record-keeping technology behind the Bitcoin network. 

“A blockchain is essentially a distributed ledger,” says Ms. Mundra. 

Blockchains or also referred to as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has the potential to eliminate huge amounts of record-keeping. It can also save money, streamline supply chains and disrupt I.T. in ways that we haven’t seen since the internet arrived.

A blockchain in simple terms, is a time-stamped record of data. It is managed by a cluster of computers but isn’t owned by a single establishment. Each of these “blocks” of data are secured and are bound together using cryptographic principles or “chains”.

In Ms. Mundra’s words, “Blockchains ensure that what you are consuming is clean. This means that it is a fair trade that’s devoid of foreign corrupt practices such as child labor, human traficking and more.”

 

THE 4 BIRDS PERSONALITY TEST

Ms. Sonia Mundra also opened up that when advancing to being the top management in her field, she needed more than technical skills and willingness to work hard.

She also needed to improve her few soft skills that helped her to take her career as far as it could go. 

Whether it was to practice discipline, take on more projects, learn to develop situational awareness, and inspire others, she believes that being a leader means that you are part of a team. That you are inspiring collaboration with encouragement and guidance. 

And the best part of becoming a good leader is that it resolves conflicts instead of ignoring them or hoping they will go away. But each individual needs a unique approach. And one way to be an effective leader is to become a discerning listener.  

One can do this by learning a lot more about who you work with with a simple D.O.P.E. Bird personality test.

This test doesn’t need you to become a psychologist. Instead, it is a fun and useful tool that notes down an individual’s different characteristics, strengths, motivation and experiences. 

However, these bird types do not pin down who or what you really are in life. But it can be an interesting way to find out more about others and yourself. 

But why does it have birds in it? 

Each bird represents a trait. The Doves are peaceful and friendly, the Owls are wise and logical. The Peacocks are showy and optimistic, and the Eagles are bold and decisive.

A person will have a combination of these types. However, just keep in mind that they must not be used as a psychological assessment of your life. 

3H LEADERSHIP (HUNGRY, HUMBLE & HUSTLE)

Lastly, although one can prepare to be a leader. One shouldn’t forget that there are things that we can’t control. The H3 Leadership provides a practical outline for implementing and living out the transformational habits of a great leader.

However, will all the adversities you’ll face. One should always strive to remain hungry, humble and hustle. 

Because at the end of your journey, will you become someone who is willing to work hard and get things done? And can you make sure that it won’t be about others are treating. But how you treat yourself. 

And ultimately, how transformative you can be that you can influence others to do the right habits to succeed. 

 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video with Sonia Mundra, be sure to click on the link below to redirect you to our YouTube channel where I share free content about the government contracting process as well as my interviews with other GovCon giants.

055: Doing Business as an Alaskan Native Corporation (ANC) with Sonia Mundra – Eric Coffie

Federal Contracting Process: A Guide Before Working with the Government

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Working with the federal government is quite different than working with private entities. There are certain processes and rules to follow. So, here is a guide to help you understand the federal contracting process. 

WHAT MAKES GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS DIFFERENT?

Federal contracts are highly regulated to encourage competition, guarantee the proper use of the taxpayer’s money, and promote healthy socio economic goals. 

Each contract also contains mandatory clauses that enable the government to have special rights within the contract.

It includes being able to change its terms and conditions and even end it.

Then, claims and legal actions from contractors should also follow the procedures of the Contract Disputes Act because the federal government is a sovereign entity. 

WHAT GOVERNED FEDERAL CONTRACTS?

Federal contracts are subject to several statutes including the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act and the Competition in Contracting Act while its procurement process for executive branches is also governed by the Federal Property Administrative Act and the Armed Services Procurement Act.

Due to these, the federal government developed a body of administrative law to address all of these through the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Other agencies such as the NASA, the General Services Administration, and the Department of Defense also created supplements on this regulation in pursuit of the Administrative Procedure Act.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICER?

A contract will not be bound without the authority of a contracting officer.

In order to follow the rules governing the contracts, an executive agency issues a warrant or a certificate of appointment to a contracting officer to grant, manage, or terminate a given contract. 

These warrants may either be a warrant with a specific amount of money or an unlimited warrant that is used for various contracting opportunities.

WHAT IS THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS?

Once the government agency provides a warrant to a contracting officer, this person moves to the next phase which can be either through sealed bidding or negotiation. 

When the contracting officer chose sealed bidding, he or she directly advertised an Invitation for Bids, read the bid to the public, and chose the lowest responsive bidder. However, if one of the conditions for the sealed bidding is not met or present, the contracting officer then awards the contract using competitive negotiation.

Competitive negotiation starts when there’s already an official issue of requests for proposals. It is then followed by the proposals review, negotiation, revision of proposals, second review, and lastly, the awarding of a contract. 

Regardless of what process the contracting officer chose, this person mainly checks the proposals and the background of each company if they are fit for the project. 

WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?

During and after the procurement process, you must meet the business practices and ethical responsibilities imposed by the federal government. 

This includes not doing any act of bribery, false claims and statements, kickbacks, attempting to influence the award or modification of the contract, discussing employment to government officers and employees, and obtaining restricted information before the award of a contract.

This also goes the same way inside your company such as not encouraging discrimination to and between employees, following the socio-economic obligations as a government contractor, providing a subcontracting plan for small businesses, following the labor standards, and providing a drug-free workplace.

WHAT IS THE CONTRACT DISPUTE ACT?

When the contracting officer terminates or changes some parts of your contract that you didn’t agree with, you have the right to appeal these by following the Contract Dispute Act.

The act follows a process wherein you present a claim to the contracting officer regarding the action that you find unreasonable within your contract.

However, if the said person doesn’t provide a final decision regarding your dispute, you can appeal this to the US Court of Federal Claims which will then be forwarded to the Court of Appeals, and lastly to the Supreme Court, if not yet resolved.

Just remember that the government has sixty days to file an answer towards your company. And for your complaint not to be defeated, you must file it within a year after you receive the contracting officer’s final decision. 

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about how the federal contracting process works as well as analyze the laws and rules written above, then be sure to click the links below.

https://www.justice.gov/jm/civil-resource-manual-70-contract-disputes-act

https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far

https://www.onvia.com/for-business/go-to-market-guidance/sealed-bids-vs-proposals-how-they-compare

https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/grow-your-business/become-federal-contractor

https://www.usa.gov/become-government-contractor

https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/federal-government-contract-overview.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_procurement_in_the_United_States#Law

“Evolve or Die?” — Savor Life vs. Make Impact

Posted on by Linette Genao

“If nature or anything were perfect, it wouldn’t be evolving.” – Ray Dalio.

Are you evolving on your journey in entrepreneurship or are you allowing the difficulties to crush you?

Evolution can be a personal topic. However, the bottom line is we are all constantly evolving. Evolution is naturally occurring. Nature evolves, we evolve, and hopefully you are evolving in your daily life. In other words, learning and growing. Adapting to the curve balls life throws your way.

As you evolve, you must intentionally choose and learn how to use the difficulties in life to propel and teach you instead of crush you.

“The key is to fail, learn and improve quickly. If you’re constantly learning and improving, your evolutionary process will be ascending. To do it poorly will be descending.” – Ray Dalio.

bud growing through rocks- evolvingThis is something we should all be reflecting on daily. How to evolve and adapt just as nature does. Learning, growing, analyzing, refocusing and restructuring, in order to turn things around in our lives. If you are an entrepreneur and/or will be working in federal contracting, this is key to the foundation of your business and your well-being.

Things can be great and go amazingly, but they can also go very wrong. Unless you are mentally prepared or aware of how to handle these ups and downs, your journey in this process will be harder than it needs to be.

“Success is not a monetary thing. It’s you doing the best you can with what you have.”- Eric Coffie

In the following video, Founder of GOVCON GIANTS, Eric Coffie, humbly encourages you in the process of entrepreneurship and succeeding in life. As well as, in the process of federal contracting and being fiscally responsible. Expanding and reflecting on Ray Dalio’s book, “Principles,” Coffie explains real-life examples you can relate to and connect with.

“There’s no avoiding pain. Especially if you’re going after ambitious goals. The challenges you face will strengthen you. If you’re not failing, you’re not pushing your limits. If you’re not pushing your limits, you’re not maximizing your potential. Most things in life just are that, they’re just things. The higher you ascend, the more effective you become at working with reality to shape your outcomes towards your goals. What at one point seemed impossible, complex, it then becomes simple.” – Eric Coffie

Watch the video below for a burst of confidence and motivation. Make the choice to light a fire within yourself.

DBE vs. MBE vs. Federal Contracts: Which is better?

Posted on by Linette Genao

While there are opportunities in DBE, MBE, and Federal Contracts, one may have questions as to which route is best to take. By diving into and comparing the three, we will see which one is ultimately the best choice for small businesses.

  1. Program Funding

MBE supports local and municipalities. This means the local city would be the one providing the funds. The bad part is, they occasionally have issues with paying people. We’re not talking about a week or two weeks late, but a month or two months plus! The DBE is not as likely to have these issues but if the market crashes (which it has), this affects how they are able to pay the contractors. Federal contracts on the other hand, are backed by funding. You will not get a contract by the federal government unless the funding is already there.

No pay, maybe pay, guaranteed pay? I don’t think there’s another question to ask.

Winner: Federal Contracts

 

  1. Prime Mindset

As a small business, you will most likely be working as a sub-contractor with a prime. At the local level with MBE, you are not really protected. Why? They do not blacklist or remove primes who treat others poorly, unfairly or fail to pay others. This is both careless and reckless, as they do not govern how they should operate and treat businesses, especially small businesses. At the DBE level, they are more mindful. Working with larger firms, they are more conscious, but they can still avoid paying you. At the federal level, they do not want to lose money. These are their bread and butter contracts. Therefore, they will not jeopardize this by not having people paid. If the prime doesn’t pay their subcontractor, they will be marked negatively.

Winner: Federal Contracts

 

  1. Company Size

At the state and local level, goals are about 5 million or less. In the federal arena, at 10k employees or $33.5 million, you’re considered a small business. That’s almost a ten-fold potential for your company to grow into before you reach the mid or large size business brackets!

Winner: Federal Contracts

 

  1. Teams

Teams are integral in business. Most businesses start off small with 1 or 2 people doing the work. Meaning a few companies will have to work together to accomplish a task. At the local level, they do not support teams. When two companies attempt to work together, they call it “co-collusion.” You will actually have to sign to say you while not be working with others to complete the tasks! The DBE doesn’t support teams either. They aren’t so up front about it, but they expect you and your employees to complete the task. Where with the federal government, working together or with your competition is the norm. The most important part for them is getting the task done, regardless of the number of companies needed to join together to make it happen.

Teamwork makes the dreamwork? 

Winner: Federal Contracts

table

  1. Contract Rules

Both MBE and DBE’s rules vary and differ from county-to-county or state-to-state. On the other hand, the federal government entails the entire US, meaning they use the same set of rules, the FAR or DFARS. No matter where you go, you follow the same rules.

Winner: Federal Contracts

 

  1. Source Selection

The MBE and DBE go with the low bidder, even if they know the contractor cannot perform because that is their policy. The federal government is a little bit smarter and tends to learn from both theirs and other’s mistakes. Instead, they go with the lowest responsive bidder. Taking this route means they can throw out the bids that are deemed “non-responsive” and go with the next lowest bidder. They will continue this process if necessary until they find the someone that can complete the job. If they can’t, they throw away the entire job and start over. Quality matters.

Winner: Federal Contracts

 

  1. Growth Potential

Here we will dive into the DBE, MBE, and Federal Contracts growth potential. The MBE and the DBE allows you up to your set goal. For example, if you say 5 million, then you’re capped at 5 million. Whereas with federal government, the sky’s the limit. Therefore, your growth is unlimited.

Winner: Federal Contracts

 

  1. Business Development

Business development is last on the list. When you want to succeed, you want to learn and you want to grow. Both, MBE and DBE do not provide you these opportunities like the federal government does. They have programs, small classes and workshops, but they are ineffective and are not reaching their targeted goals. Whereas at the federal level, there are formal business development programs to help you improve and grow. There are even agencies designed to help small businesses win contracts, like the 8a program. Overall, the knowledge and assistance you receive is invaluable.

Winner: Federal Contracts

table 2

After 8 different topics and analyzing and comparing DBE, MBE, and Federal Contracts, I think you know who the winner is—federal contracts! We can easily say federal contracts blow the others out of the water. They are overall the most effective and trustworthy choice of the three.

 

If you want to learn more about the differences, advantages and disadvantages between the three, watch the video below. If you want to learn more about federal contracting, visit our YouTube Channel.

Is The 8 (a) Program A Waste Of Time?

Posted on by Linette Genao

 

This can definitely be a controversial topic. First and foremost, what is the 8 (a) program?

The 8(a) program is where small disadvantaged businesses can receive assistance from the federal government. Each year, the federal government awards a percentage of federal contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses. A huge benefit to a small business, but is it a waste of time?

It can be, if, you do not prepare properly. There is a proper time for you to take advantage of the benefits it offers. Before you jump into the 8 (a) program, we encourage you to first build a foundation, create the company, your organization, your structure and get some experience under your belt. You do not want to waste an opportunity like this, if you are selected for the 8a program. Preparation is key!

You need to know your company and be confident in your structure, organization, and delivery. In the program, you are going to be dealing with the small business development specialists who represent dozens of firms.  A lot of times, you will be getting new specialists who have limited experience in the program, how it works, and how to best help you. The specialists are not familiar with your business. No one is going to be more familiar with your business than you are.

Remember that the program itself does not create the foundation for companies. You have to! You want to maximize all of your success by doing your proper planning. Then again, it’s only a nine-year program and a once in a lifetime thing. Why squander the opportunity?

OUR FINAL VERDICT?

Yes! The 8(a) program is worth it, if you plan properly.

The 8 (a) program takes you from good to great. This is a great opportunity if you are ready and prepare and you want to be ready so that when you get into the program, you can spread like wildfire! What does this mean? Get to planning and preparing!

 

To find out more about the 8(a) program and properly preparing for government contracts, watch the video below. To learn more about government contracting, visit our YouTube Channel..

 

 

 

16 Reasons to Hate County and State Contracts

Posted on by Linette Genao

County and state contracts are not the best way to go. Plain and simple. They may be the “safe route” and hate may be a strong word, but by the end of this you’ll understand why this route is not the most beneficial.

But can’t you make money working these contracts? Yes, you absolutely can make money working county and state contracts. However, there will be a lot more effort and time spent, with a result that is nowhere near the federal level.

County and state contract results are incomparable to the results federal contracts give you. It might be easier or quicker to bid county and state contracts, but after all of the unsuccessful proposals you will need to design, you’re going to burn out. Once you are burned out bidding jobs unsuccessfully, then you’ll start to understand why we don’t suggest going this route.

 

16 REASONS TO HATE COUNTY AND STATE CONTRACTS

 

  1. Rare to Begin And Make Millions Of Dollars

Working on smaller projects allows you to become comfortable and stay stagnant for years to come. There will be little progress as the years pass and once you get comfortable, the millions and larger projects will probably never be touched.

  1. No Ability To Scale

You can’t hire an outside man and they can’t hire an outside man. If you go this route, you better be ready to do all of the work. With federal contracts, you can bring in whoever you need to as long as the job gets done and the people you hire can also bring in whoever they need to.

  1. Requires That You Have All The Tools

You won’t be able to leverage other people and other team member’s resources. If you don’t have the money or the tools to do it yourself, you are out of luck. It’s a big never-ending cycle. In the federal arena, you can work as a subcontractor on a half or million-dollar project and the prime will cover the bonding. Meanwhile, you get the experience to increase your bonding level.

  1. Pay Is Slow More Often Times Than Pay Is Fast

The number one complaint from small-business owners? The local and state governments pay is slow. Being paid slow versus being paid fast is the norm. If you are a subcontractor, you are waiting double the time. Whereas, the federal government pays on time.

  1. Allows For Underbidding

Bidding and winning a job that the county and state know you will not be able to afford, is a risk you shouldn’t want to take. Starting out, you don’t have any money to lose, so why would you put yourself at a disadvantage right out the gate? It’s a waste of time for everyone.

  1. They Award Projects Without Securing Funding

This is scary. If you are doing a project, don’t you want to assure you will get paid and that money has been allocated to receive payment? The federal government allocates money so when the job is done, you get paid. State and local governments? They need something done but have no idea how they will pay for it. After you do all of the work, all of a sudden, “they are sorry and trying to get the funding.” I don’t know about you, but we much rather be assured that after all of the work that goes into completing these projects, there is money for everyone to get paid.

  1. No Blackball List; Not Widely Used

Ethics is what is comes down to. You don’t want to work with someone who is unethical. However, the local governments do not blackball contractors who take advantage of disabled and elderly people, walk out on jobs, fail to complete jobs or pay their sub-contractors. This also means that the prime contact can abuse you and never be removed from an approved vendor’s list. Sounds comforting? Didn’t think so.

  1. Designed For Handymen

These contracts are made for people who are going to self-perform the work or bid so cheap as though they are going to self-perform the work. There are also no opportunities for you to scale or grow a team this way. They want you to do all of the work but pay you as if you’re doing them a favor or are hiring and paying others under the table. Not based on your expertise, experience and what it actually requires to complete the job and pay an experienced team.

  1. Do Not Offer Maximum Leverage

Local levels do not support joint ventures. This is such a shame. Because they do not support joint ventures, there is no way or opportunity to actually leverage your abilities and talents to grow a business out.

  1. There Are Prejudices Based On Race, Location and Relationships

Don’t get upset over what you just read. Take a second to understand. There are still minority, section 3, public housing and similar type of programs out there. However, these contracts won’t actually scale your business and lead you to success. On the other hand, they can actually get you in trouble. You cannot get success by demand. Find the best company to work with and for you. You want to be the best company and work with the best companies regardless of what they look like, who they are and where they’re at.

  1. No Training Contract Officers

With the lack of stability in maintaining positions and the constant revolving of moving people to different positions, people who lack the experience are the ones judging the contracts. Whereas in the federal arena, a contracting officer is a contracting officer no matter where they go.

  1. Funding Is Tied To Federal Or State Grants And Subsidy Programs Like CDBG

Did you ever stop to think where the county gets their money from? Yes, some of it comes from tax payers. But the rest of the money comes from the state, which comes from the federal government. If their dollars are coming from the federal agency, why don’t you just work for the federal agency? If it’s good enough for the state and the municipal government to rely upon, don’t you think it’s good enough for you to rely upon?

  1. Constantly Changing People

Relationships are key to maximizing opportunities. If the people in the positions are constantly being changed, how can you have or build these relationships? You should be looking to maximize opportunities and leverage skillsets to grow your business. ­­

  1. Inconsistent Bid Process

With so many different departments within the counties, the bid process is inconsistent. This means you are creating new proposals for each bid. However, with the federal government, you follow one rule book—the FAR or Federal Acquisitions Regulations. They use the Standard Form 1449. Therefore, one bid process is almost identical to the other. Meaning, the first proposal you invested time into, you now only have to change names, prices and details.

  1. Can Cancel A Contract With No Apparent Reason

If you want to be spending time going after opportunities for someone that turns you away and doesn’t give you a chance over something like a protest, then the county is the way to go. But who wants to waste all of that time for nothing? No one.

  1. Big Enough To Screw You, Small Enough To Overextend And Not Pay You

There was a man who had a contract to build the Pinecrest Library. Once built, the real estate market crashed and he was told he would never get paid. Not because they didn’t owe him the money, but because there was no money to pay him. End note, they are big enough to screw you, small enough to overextend and not pay you. Don’t be that guy.

 

As a beginner, federal contracts might be intimidating but being new and ignorant is your blessing here. It’s actually a strength that you are at a disadvantage, because you don’t know any better.

When you don’t know any better, if you pursue a multi-million-dollar federal contract with limited experience and limited knowledge and you land that job, then everything works out. Whereas, if you start small, these numbers will seem unattainable and you’ll never give yourself the opportunity to reach these limits.

At this point, you probably changed your mind and despise county and state contracts too. We say, go for it. Start with the “scary.” Go for the federal contracts. You’ll be happy you did in the long run.

 

Check out our video below for more information on this topic. To learn more, visit our YouTube Channel.

 

Don’t Screw Up Your First Federal Bid, Follow These Tips!

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Follow these tips and tricks in doing government contracts, so you won’t screw up on your first federal bid!

TIPS THAT YOU SHOULD FOLLOW

I know a lot of people who are bidding jobs all the time, but they aren’t really successful at getting the job or if they won, they found out that they made some huge mistakes along with their bid. This is what I want you to avoid. 

With this, I’m sharing some ideas and ways that I use myself when I’m looking at bidding projects in the federal marketplace.

1. Get the contract into writing.

We’re always in a rush for a very quick turnaround period, but in terms of pricing and specifications asked by the government, you should make sure to get it first into writing. 

Why? Because the government does not care if you make a mistake or if they are the ones who did it. If they can’t see those specifications in paper, then they won’t pay you. 

“They don’t care about anything that’s happening in your life, your personal life, or anything happening between you and the guy who told you that this thing was going to be square versus round. So make sure, the only way that you can really cover yourself is to get it in writing. You want to make sure that the first thing you do is get stuff in writing.”

2. Meet all the specifications.

Some people who watch my video usually bid for commodity-type items on sites like FedBid, NECO, or Dibbs. With this type of doing business with the government, you should make sure that you meet the requirements and specifications of the product they want. 

If they want a green headphone, you should give them green headphones. Regardless if your supplier doesn’t have that type of headphone, you still need to provide it. You may either look for other suppliers or you don’t bid the job. 

“Do not bid a job with something that’s different, that’s less, or inferior, than what the government’s asking for. Make sure that you’re giving exactly what they’re asking for.”

Also, even if it doesn’t make sense, give it to them anyways. Why? Because the government will pay for their mistakes. As long as you give them what’s written on the contract, they’ll pay you. 

3. Get supplier credit.

It doesn’t make any sense to go out here and attempt to bid jobs or attempt on pursuing opportunities that you don’t have the ability to finance. So, get yourself some supplier credit or ask someone or a company to provide it for you.  

“If you don’t have any money, you don’t have any resources, you don’t have any… a teaming partner or a company that you’re working with that has the ability to purchase this item, I would not encourage you to bid it.”

Don’t try to figure it out later, after the fact that you bid on it because I have met a lot of people who have won projects, but can’t do it because they don’t have any resources. 

In fact, these are the things that you need to think of first, before you actually take on the challenge or actually start bidding jobs.

If you want people to help fund your bids, then find a network of people who can vouch for you. If you also want to learn how to get yourself some supplier credit, don’t worry we have a video made for that. 

“Learn these things that you need to do. Put yourself in a position to be ready when the time is right.”

4. Know your numbers.

You need to know how to price your jobs and with this, you need to ask these questions:

How much profit do you have in that job? How much is the product? How much do you need to transport that product from the supplier to the agency? Do you pay your workers the right wage? 

“The only way that you would know what you can and can’t do is based on knowing your numbers. So have a good grasp of your numbers. Know what the things cost. Know what it costs to get it to where you have to get it to. Know what it costs to install it. Know what it costs to integrate it. Know how many people you need. Know your numbers.”

5. Don’t go at it alone.

A lot of people out there are one-man companies and a lot of my audience are people who want to shift from one career to the other, but in doing these things, you should not do it all alone. 

You can technically do some stuff on your own, but for other things, you can’t. You need resources. 

There are people out there. There’s mentorship and other seminars out there. There’s PTAC and other organizations that are partners with the Small Business Administration that want to help you. There are also entities that are willing to do partnerships, joint ventures, and teaming with you. 

“I’m not saying that you need someone 24 hours a day or 99 percent of the time. But, have someplace, some resource, somewhere that you can go to kind of like piggyback your thoughts, your ideas, when you’re doing this stuff.”

6. Prepare to work.

Government contracting is not a get rich quick scheme. It is work and if you’re not prepared to do the work, then you’re not ready for this. 

Now, some of you might have a day job or are working on other things, but consider that doing this is also a job and in order for you to get something out of this, you need to do the work. 

“We all have lives, I understand all that kind of stuff. But, again, it’s work. It’s like anything else. You get out of it what you put into it. So, if you put in very little, you’re going to get out very little. Simple as that.”

7. Cover the time element.

I’ve seen projects where the government said, “Listen, provide us this item from the day we execute the contract. We need it delivered to this particular location in three weeks.”

Now, that statement or specification is critical. If your supplier can’t meet that requirement, then you don’t need to pursue that project. If they can’t deliver that item to this particular destination in three weeks, then I would not go with their price.

Even if their price is lower than the guy who can deliver it in three weeks, you should not agree to it because you will just then be kicked off of the job for failing to perform. 

“You don’t want to be considered non-responsive for failing to meet that requirement. That’s a very easy way to disqualify yourself before you get started. And bids are so time consuming. There’s so much work that we put into this stuff that, why would you want to even be disqualified coming out the gate? So make sure you meet that time element.”

RESOURCES

With this in mind, if you want to learn more about the tips and tricks in winning government contracts, then join us here at GovCon Giants.

Just visit our website and other social media platforms or check the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

You can also check these resources below to learn more about the topic above:

Don’t screw up your first federal bid, follow these tips

https://youtu.be/Y_-uiGSnkSQ

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Dont-screw-up-your-first-federal-bid-follow-these-tips-1.pdf

Build a Target Market List using the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS)

Posted on by Eric Coffie

In this blog, we’re gonna discuss three things: what is FPDS, what kind of things can you do at FPDS, and how to build your target market list. 

WHAT IS FPDS?

The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) is a huge database of all the government contract awards.

This is where you go to search for your competitors, your customers, and the people that want to buy your products and services.

HOW TO BUILD A TARGET MARKET LIST?

In building your target market list, you can go to the FPDS database and start doing an easy search. With this, you can just type your NAICS code and hit enter. 

Afterwards, it will reveal results with information including the top 10 department names, top 10 agencies, top 10 vendors, and then it shows you account symbols. 

Of all that information, we’re going to actually go to  contract and agency names, and then vendor names. These are actually self-explanatory as FPDS provide results of people who have received the most contract awards for that particular NAICS code under their system. 

For instance, if you click a contract agency under the top 10 contracting agency name, then you will see that the Department of Air force might have given 10, 000 worth of contracts, the Navy gave 7,000 contracts, and so forth.

What I usually do is I click on an agency name and look for their top 10 vendors. Then, I went to my Excel sheet, typed in for instance, Department of Army, and then put in the top 10 vendors of that agency. I also put other agency’s vendors in my Excel spreadsheet and so forth. 

So, what I’ve done is, I’m building up a target market list of both competitors and contracting agencies that I can use to solicit business from.

I will then check more information about these vendors and contact them if they would like to give some parts of the contract that they can’t do. 

RESOURCES

Now, those are the ways that I use FPDS to build a target market list. You can just do it without even registering, so it’s a good introduction for all of you out there. 

“It’s just an introduction, but it’s the first step to learning who your competitors are, who your clients are, and who’s going to buy your products and services.”

With this in mind, if you want to learn more about the tips and tricks in winning government contracts, then join us here at GovCon Giants.

Just visit our website and other social media platforms or check the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

You can also check these resources below to learn more about the topic above:

Build a Target Market List using FPDS -Federal Procurement Data System

https://youtu.be/gUbTyb2h7as

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Build-a-Target-Market-List-using-FPDS-Federal-Procurement-Data-System-1.pdf