Tag: government contracts

Darcella Craven Explains Motivation in Helping Veterans through VetBiz.com

Posted on by Eric Coffie

As the President of the Veteran Resource Business Center, Darcella Craven shared how VRBC is helping veterans gain success in the federal marketplace.

BACKGROUND

Before becoming part of the Veteran Resource Business Center (VRBC), Darcella Craven was an army veteran who later worked in different private entities for various administrative roles while also working as a faculty at Sanford Brown College.

She also started her business but it failed that made her pay the Internal Revenue Service a significant amount of money. She didn’t want that to happen to other veterans. So, when an opportunity in helping  veterans came, she accepted it. 

“So that’s my reason for the push here is that it’s amazing to watch people make a decision that changes the course of their life. And so for me, that’s the thing. Whether that decision is, yes, here’s a business and this is what’s going to happen, or no, not right this time… I just appreciate that light bulb moment that you see with folks.”

Currently, Craven is the President of the Veteran Resource Business Center (VRBC). She also volunteers on various nonprofit events that aims to promote entrepreneurship, provide job opportunities, and celebrate small business successes. 

ABOUT THE VETERAN RESOURCE BUSINESS CENTER

1. GOAL

The reason why the Veteran Resource Business Center was created is to assist veterans with startup and expansion opportunities for their small businesses in the areas of Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa region.

The organization helps analyze problems and develops solutions to grow successful veteran-owned businesses as well as provide opportunities for immediate family members of military servants.

They are also part of a larger nationwide network of Veteran Business Outreach Centers (VBOC). 

2. SERVICES

VRBC, on their own, has seven military posts and during the transition process of military members, they visit these areas. They have a week-long conversation with these people on what they will do afterwards. 

“If they decide that entrepreneurship might be a thing they want to do, they can sign up for an additional two days, and that’s when we come in. We can give them this two-day entrepreneurship class, which is called Boots to Business. It’s about a 10,000 foot view of what entrepreneurship is.”

Other than going to these posts, VRBC also provides opportunities to their surrounding community and to the family members and spouses of military servants. 

“So we might bring in an attorney or an accountant or a marketing expert to kind of help deliver those trainings so they can also know what resources are around them as well as what’s available to them nationally.”

THE PROCESS THAT VBRC FOLLOWS

When a veteran is interested in establishing a business, these people should have all the certifications and papers in place first for the assessment.

Then, they make sure that these people have their own business plan and understand what they have written into it.

“A part of our process there is to kind of make sure that they are shored up with their plan and they know what kinds of questions they have and then we get them prepared to talk to people that they may hire. Because it really is specific. I mean you need to know what you’re doing.”

So, a part of this process is to really teach these veterans on what their goal and their market are as well as help them develop a plan on how to reach their goal. 

RESOURCES

If you want to watch the full video of the interview with Darcella Craven as she shared how the Veteran Resource Business Center aims in helping veterans gain success in the federal marketplace, then be sure to click the links below:

009: Darcella Craven – Veteran Resource Business Center President and Chief Fear Conquer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXZkdVKv_rw

009: Darcella Craven – Chief Fear Conqueror and President of the Veteran Resource Business Center

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/darcella-craven-chief-fear-conqueror-and-president-of-the-veteran-resource-business-center/

The Do’s and Don’ts in Performing Your Government Contracts

Posted on by Eric Coffie

As government contractors, you cannot freely do anything with your project the way you wanted it to be. You have guidelines to follow which are all in your contracts. To give you an idea, here are the do’s and don’ts in performing your government contracts.

FOLLOW THE SPECIFICATIONS. 

Contracting officers have a very specific set of guidelines that government contractors should follow. 

These people might not be the one who are the main reason why that project took place but for the fact that they have the authority to obligate the government’s spin and funds, then you shouldn’t defy them. 

“We should be thankful that we are in a position to where somebody is calling us with the contract and opportunity that is not publicly posted to do a negotiation and a potential sole source.”

COMMUNICATE IN TERMS OF CHANGES.

Then, you should also communicate with your contracting officer if you want certain changes in your contract or there are parts that you find difficult to understand.

In most cases, when you do something that is not part of your contract, contracting officers will either not pay you or only pay the agreed payment based on the contract. 

However, you can avoid it by writing all of your recommended changes in terms of a Request for Information and sending it to your contracting officers so that they can include the changes in your contract or exclude anything from the list of your responsibilities.  

“If there’s a change of scope, you put it in the form of an RFI and you let them make the determination.”

STOP THE PROJECT.

The last thing that you should do is to stop the project if there are changes that are not part of your scope of work.

Don’t just do all of the things that are being ordered by the agency that you’re working with. Rather, communicate with your contracting officer and make sure that what you’re doing is still under your contract and if you are sure it is not, then temporarily stop  your project. 

“Don’t come back and ask for money for things that you took upon yourself without getting permission.”

Remember that the government and the contracting officer will just pay you if a project is done or a product or service is delivered according to their contract. Other problems that you might face in doing the project is not part of their problem. So, it is best to ask for the permission of your contracting officer first.

RESOURCES

If you want to watch Eric Coffie’s full video, then be sure to click the links below.

Negotiating a $5 million dollar contract do’s and don’ts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXj_oSdNKb8

How to price a FedBizOpps contract, things to consider?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Rdcck0e0Q

How to Bid a Job?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drxbXzQSfG0&t=146s

International Contracts – How to register if you are a foreign company

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWbcnqp1ymE

Jennifer Namvar- The Billion Dollar Capture Manager – Part 2: Insight

Posted on by Linette Genao

By focusing on emerging and next-generation technologies, Jennifer Namvar, Capture Director for Leidos, has become the best of the best at what she does. With 16 years of experience in all phases of the federal government business development life-cycle, she is someone you want to learn from. Jennifer Namvar has worked for some of the DoD’s Top 100 list companies and has closed more than one billion in new and re-compete business.

With so much knowledge to offer, we decided to break this into two parts.

Part 1, focused on proposal writing assistance and how-to effectively execute the process as a small-business. Here on Part 2, Jennifer Namvar will take us a little into a Capture Manager’s World and how small businesses can benefit from this insider knowledge.

CAPTURE MANAGER INSIGHT

According to Namvar, there are key areas that capture managers will always focus on.

  1. Customer engagement
    • “The more customer intimacy that you have, the higher your win probability will be on your opportunity that you’re working.” -Jennifer Namvar
  2. Teaming
    • “For a particular opportunity, usually one company doesn’t do the whole thing themselves. They bring a team of other companies.” -Jennifer Namvar
  3. Solutions
    • “How do you bring a differentiated solution?” -Jennifer Namvar

Some of the questions Capture Managers ask throughout these three stages include, “Who are you going to call in, in a government? What are the requirements this customer’s looking for? Which ones does my company do best? Are there small business requirements? Which small businesses would be a good fit for this contract? How do you put together a differentiated solution that’s not something your competitors are going to put together?”

That’s a lot of information.

Because of this, you’re probably wondering do larger organizations work less with small businesses?

They do!

According to Namvar, “A lot of the RFP’s that come out will have a small business requirement as part of them.”

Through the teaming stage, they have to put together a winning team. “If that includes 40% of my subtracted dollars go to small businesses, I have to figure out which small businesses I need to bring on my team.”

HOW IS THIS DONE?

 

  1. They look at small businesses that they’ve successfully partnered with in the past.
  2. They look for a specific socioeconomic category
    • For example, a woman-owned small business, service-disabled small-business, veteran-owned small business, etc. and how their company meets the areas of the statement of work.
  3. Customer Relationships

 

HOW CAN YOU DISTINGUISH YOURSELF AS A SMALL BUSINESS?

One word. Relationships. Relationships. Oh yea, relationships! Okay, that was technically three or five, but that one word is key!

“This is the advice I always give to small businesses. I think that this is a relationship-based business, and the best thing you can do is nurture a relationship with the decision maker in one of these large businesses,” states Namvar.

Having lunch with them, reaching out to them and nurturing the relationship, are all ways Namvar advises you begin building and growing your connections. That way, when a contractor is coming out and needs to fulfill a requirement, you are at the top of their mind.

“It could be someone from the contract side, you might want to work that angle, but you might want to consider also working the angle of someone who is dealing with a large volume of proposals that they have to deal with. Whether, it’s a business development person or a capture manager who’s working a few different deals.”

Secondly, Namvar advises bringing your client relationships to the primes.

“So if you can nurture some customer relationships, in the same way of customers you would ideally want to work with, you can say, ‘Hey, I can make an introduction to customer so-and-so and I hear that this opportunity’s coming out. You would be a great fit for a prime and we would love to partner with you on it.’ That’s a slam dunk way to do it, in my opinion. That’s how I would do it if I were a small business.”

How do you get these relationships you might ask?

Word of mouth, networking events and even LinkedIn.

 

MISTAKES SMALL BUSINESSES MAKE

 

During the process of building relationships, there are mistakes that can be made. Do not just invite these new connections to have lunch with you.

When you contact them, Jennifer Namvar advises sending a message that is detailed but quick. In the message, articulate your value, bring a customer into the picture, identify an opportunity they may or may not be aware of and ask for a brief 15-minute call.

Another mistake, becoming too tactical. Don’t get so tactical as a small business, that you forget to have a process.

“I think that most small businesses use the excuse that ‘hey, we’re a small business, so we can’t have a process, so we can’t have a strategy.’ Instead of having a strategy of, ‘Okay, this year I want to go… These are the accounts that I want to focus on or these are the customers I want to focus on and these are the opportunities at the beginning of the year, and build a pipeline. I see them more waiting for the… chasing the next shiny object or waiting for the next opportunity and completely overextending themselves and not actually engaging with customers or engaging with those partners that they can work with.”

As she says, “Don’t go wide instead of deep.”

LAST PIECE OF ADVICE 

Finally, we leave you with some encouragement from Jennifer Namvar herself.

Jennifer Namvar

“If you’re afraid of that and you don’t put your art out into the world, then no one gets the benefit of it…You can’t please everyone all the time. But there are going to be some people out there who really like what you put out there, who really like your company, who have jobs because you created a company. And none of that value would exist if you’re too scared to put it out there.”

 

To hear more, join the GOVCON GIANTS Podcast Community available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and iHeart.

To learn more about Government Contracting, subscribe to the GOVCON GIANTS YouTube Channel.

 

JENNIFER NAMVAR BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. “This is Marketing” by Seth Godin
  2. “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Willink

Jennifer Namvar – The Billion Dollar Capture Manager – Part 1: Proposals

Posted on by Linette Genao

By focusing on emerging and next-generation technologies, Jennifer Namvar, Capture Director for Leidos, has become the best of the best at what she does. With 16 years of experience in all phases of the federal government business development life-cycle, she is someone you want to learn from. Jennifer Namvar has worked for some of the DoD’s Top 100 list companies and has closed more than one billion in new and re-compete business.

With so much knowledge to offer, we have decided to break this into two parts. With part 1, we will focus on proposal writing assistance and how to effectively execute the process as a small-business.

 

PROPOSAL ADVICE FROM JENNIFER NAMVAR

 

1) Have a proposal management process

We all know proposals require a lot of time and dedication. As a small business, even if you cannot afford a full out-proposal management team, you should still have a process. For example, even with a small 5-person team, this can be effectively accomplished by beginning with creating a schedule.

“What I would recommend is that you put together for each proposal a schedule and an outline of the requirements and the evaluation criteria. You dedicate or assign a team of people and give each person on your five-person team a responsibility for putting together a part of the proposal.”

Additionally, Namvar recommends holding reviews and getting someone else to review your proposal.

“Get a couple people. Either if it’s a startup, sometimes you have a board, sometimes you have business advisors. Get those people to review your proposal. Don’t review your own proposal.”

 

2) If you outsource…

Find someone credible to review your proposals.

“I would bring in trusted consultants…There’s several proposal and capture consulting companies that have very senior folks that you can hire to review your proposal,” states Namvar.

If you hire a freelancer, Namvar suggests hiring one that is specific to this industry and to federal proposals.

 

3) Give yourself time

With all the time and money invested into created proposals, you want to make sure you give yourself enough time to review, edit, and perfect.

In addition, Namvar advises allotting time for a hard copy response in case something goes wrong electronically.

Missing a deadline is not an option.

“If you do miss a deadline, even by a minute, the government typically will throw you out and you don’t want to waste all that time and money for having a late submission.”

 

4) Have Accountability Check-Ins

Throughout the life of the proposal, you want to have daily accountability check-ins with your team. This way, you know the proposal is going in the right direction. Also, little problems or concerns can be addressed quickly without turning into larger issues.

 

Following these 4 steps will assist you in having a smoother proposal writing experience. It will also assure you are putting your best foot forward. After all, you want to make sure you are submitting the best proposal you have to offer.

On our next post, Jennifer Namvar will take us a little into a Capture Manager’s World and how small businesses can benefit from this insider knowledge.

 

To hear more, join the GOVCON GIANTS Podcast Community available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and iHeart.

To learn more about Government Contracting, subscribe to the GOVCON GIANTS YouTube Channel.

Inside With Robert Wink—Contract Specialist With USACE and Former FEMA Contracting Officer

Posted on by Linette Genao

Although all agencies have similarities, they are also all unique. Robert Wink, published author and CEO of Integrity Lion Acquisitions, provided us insight on how different working with two agencies can actually be.

Wink is adamant about helping entrepreneurs learn the process and how to do the work in federal contracting quickly, effectively, and without wasting time, Wink opened up about his experiences working with FEMA after a large natural disaster and how the rules are not the same as many of the federal agencies.

 

Robert Wink

BACKGROUND

Wink comes with vast experience working within the government. He retired from the US Army with multiple deployments to Iraq, was a Contracting Officer with FEMA and is currently a Contracting Specialist with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Wink is also the author of two books: “Small Business Starting Guide to Federal Government Contracts and Searching for Solicitations” and “Secrets to Noncompetitive Government Contracts.”

 

INSIDE WITH ROBERT WINK

 

1. Get familiar with the industry or the agency you are going into Or Working With

From an insider perspective and as a contracting officer, working for FEMA and also the US Army Corps of Engineers, we learn from Wink that they require very different things from their contracting officers and allot their spending very differently. This is important for those wanting to work for the agencies or those looking to work with a specific industry or agency.

“Absolutely, because even at the Army, I was at the Mission Installation Contracting Command and we were very heavy on small businesses. Went to FEMA, man FEMA. That was a … FEMA is a whole different animal when it comes to Contracting. What I mean by that, and I’ll stick with the small business side. When I would bring up, “Hey, what’s our small business goals?” You got that deer in the headlight look… I think in the two years, the couple, and the month… couple weeks I was there, not one time did we ever talk small business goals.”

 

2. Natural Disasters Change The Rules

It’s important to note that rules change. Especially during natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey.

“During your disaster, the disaster have a local area set aside…So during those disasters, those Presidential declared disasters, we were supposed to…and within the first 150 days, we can contract to anybody, because it’s a disaster. It’s a go. But, during that time, we have to start moving and transitioning to local area set asides. So, we have to compete.”

 

3. Contract Specialist and Contract Officers Are Not The Same 

Using the following example, Robert Wink explains how Contracting Specialist are like paralegals. Whereas, Contracting Officers are like lawyers—reviewing, making decisions and even arguing on your behalf to the government.

“I try to explain it the simplest way of explaining it is this way. You have your Attorney, who’s the one that approves everything and can negotiate on behalf of whoever they’re representing. That’s your Attorney. Now, the person that does the leg work and all the hard-core work. I mean, you’ll get into the weeds, and looking at the laws, and policies, and regulation. Even though the Attorney does that, it’s your Paralegals at the end of the day.”

 

4. People Will Sell You Anything If You Let Them

Be aware of companies with a government title in their name to give people the false appearance as though they are representing the government. Then, in very, very small fine print at the bottom, they state, “We are not a Government agency.”

“There’s companies out there that take the same information in my book. I know a couple in Florida. They will charge people anywhere from $400.00 up to $5,000.00 to enroll them in SAM.gov. It’s free, it’s unbelievable… it’s embarrassing…” states Wink.

What you are being charged for, ultimately is free. Be aware.

 

5. State Objectives Differ from Performance Work Statements

“So a Performance Work Statement is a, ‘I need you to complete this. I don’t care how you complete it, but there’s a measurement. So you have to provide this document and you have to perform this type of work. But, we’re going to measure your process along the way.’ What the Statement of Objectives is, ‘Hey, I need you to do janitor work on this five thousand square foot building, two hundred rooms, you tell me how you’re going to do it. You develop those metrics.’”

 

6. Read The Solicitations

Wink advises small businesses, where hiring a lawyer or Consultant to dissect solicitations for you is not an option, to simply read.

“So what I tell everybody to do is, as soon as you see something that you think you can do, read that Performance Work Statement, or that Statement Objective, or the structure. Whatever the Government’s attempting or trying to purchase.”

After reading it, Robert Wink advises asking yourself whether or not you can achieve what they are asking.

Ask yourself, “Can you do it?”

Don’t waste time. You need to know if your set aside can even do it before you spend hours analyzing the solicitation.

 

7. Pricing Is More of An Art Than A Science

Always take into account what the risk is when deciding how you mark up a job. Also, when you’re bidding a job, bid it so that you can make profit for yourself. Don’t worry about what the other person is bidding, because if you try and play and numbers game, they could have missed something, and you could end up costing you money.

“Account for all risks and to make profit. You never go into a project to lose money, unless it’s to keep your business afloat. It’s either not working or taking a little bit of loss just to keep the doors open. And employment. But, that’s a business decision.”

To hear more, join the GOVCON GIANTS Podcast Community available on  Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and iHeart.

To learn more about government contracting subscribe to the GOVCON GIANTS YouTube Channel.

How to win government contracts as a small business?

Posted on by Eric Coffie

You might already be asking yourself on how to win government contracts. Well, there are a handful of routes that you can take in order to start working with the federal government and that’s going to be the focus of today’s blog. 

PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS.

Primarily, you need to make sure that your business is prepared to work with the government by meeting the necessary requirements.

These include having all the required business information such as the DUNS number and NAICS code in registering on the System for Award Management (SAM) database. 

Also, part of your SAM registration is uploading your capability statement and identifying that you have met the size standards to be considered as a small business and be able to take advantage of small business programs.

This is of utmost importance because before awarding the contract, each agency does a research first to see if you have the necessary resources in place. If you think, you are not qualified in doing so, then this should be the stage to see what you can do to make you more qualified. 

UNDERSTAND THE BIDDING PROCESS.

Before you land into a contract, you will most likely need to undergo a bidding process so it is key to understand how the bidding process works and what the types of government solicitations are there. 

To give you an idea, the four types of government solicitations include the request for a quote, request for proposal, an invitation for bid, and request for information. 

Regardless of the type of solicitation the government agency asks, you need to provide a responsive bid or proposal that complies to the procurement requirements and procedures.

Most importantly, you need to make sure that whatever the requirements are, you have looked upon it and resolved any issues that might compromise the project before agreeing on doing the contract. 

BUILD YOUR NETWORK.

Attend small business training workshops either online or offline to improve your understanding of how government procurement works and to assess the products and services each agency needs as well as communicate with other government contractors and learn from their experiences in the field.

Also, look for a mentor who can help you navigate the contracting process and to guide you on your decisions.

In doing so, the SBA is offering free workshops that you can join regardless of what state you are located and there are a handful of government contractors and consultants who are willing to assist you. 

FIND A CONTRACT.

There are a handful of platforms that you can use to find contracts and one of these is the Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) which is mainly used by government agencies. You can also use this to search for subcontractors to do half or a little portion of your overall contract. 

Then, there are also other federal business opportunities listed in the FedBizOpps.gov which is now under the SAM database that government agencies ought to use to advertise all contracts over $25,000

Lastly, you can also secure a contract with the  U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). However, you first need to pay for a Past Performance Evaluation report and also provide six to 20 email addresses of your past customers. 

SEARCH FOR SUBCONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES. 

If you are a small business and you don’t have the experience in becoming a prime contractor, there are a handful of subcontracting opportunities that you can look at on SubNet. 

The SBA, GSA, and the Department of Defense also maintains a directory of prime contractors with subcontracting plans.

Lastly, you can also search for contracts over $25,000 on the Federal Procurement Data System, USASpending.gov or on any small business offices such as the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) or the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP). 

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about winning in this federal contracting arena, then be sure to click the links below.

https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-guide/how-win-contracts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_-uiGSnkSQ

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/can-you-successfully-win-government-contracts/

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

Public Sector Contracting versus Private Sector Contracting

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Here’s an outline of the key differences in dealing with contracts between the federal government or the public sector and the private sector. 

FINDING CONTRACTS

The federal government typically operates procurements through the System for Awards Management and the Acquisition Central which centralizes several acquisition and procurement activities. 

Meanwhile in the private sector, some larger companies centralize procurement, but most deal with it in a decentralized way at a regional or departmental level.

GETTING THE CONTRACT

To ensure fairness, maintain high standards, and deliver value to the US taxpayers, the federal government has a strict procurement process in place.

Contractors need to send a proposal in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP) posted on a procurement site. Then, the Contracting Officer is typically delegated the full buying authority necessary to make the purchase in federal government buying decisions. 

Federal government services are less sensitive to the economy simply because taxes are collected regardless of economic conditions, however, businesses need to qualify, even annually, in order to maintain a position of “good standing” as a government service provider. 

On the other hand, private sector contracting varies dramatically and can often be accomplished through personal connections rather than sales effort because the contracts are highly sensitive to shareholder influence.

Private sector contracting might be sold through any number of sales techniques from cold-calling to sales presentations. Contractors may even frequently require the sign-off of higher levels of authority, each who need to be “sold” on the product or service.

Hence, in the private sector, a business’ track record and contract may be enough to acquire business, but in doing business with the government, qualification differs, depending on the agency served and the products or services delivered.

ENGAGING ON THE CONTRACT

Federal government agencies are often highly bureaucratic, so each agency carefully manages its own “jurisdiction”. As a result, private sector contractors transitioning in the public sector are sometimes surprised to discover just how “political” and “pigeon-holed” their works were.

Then, in terms of the successful completion of a project, in the private sector, contracts are considered complete based on performance-enhancing or bottom-line-enhancing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

On the other hand, the federal government may be occasionally cost sensitive during the selection of their service provider, but their KPIs are typically not tied to performance or the bottom line. Rather, they are tied to time, budget, measurable completion of the project, or some other indicator.

MAKING MONEY

Margins are usually higher in the private sector since the federal government rewards work to the lowest bidder. However, change orders and longer-term contracts make federal government work lucrative to companies that are able to work within the margins.

Payment is also different between these two sectors. Due to bureaucracy and pre-established systems, businesses can expect longer timelines on payment (1-6 months) from the government compared to the private sector where a 30-day payment schedule is typical.

SUMMARY

Breaking into the federal contracting marketplace isn’t always easy to do as it requires careful adherence to the pre-established process as well as creative navigation of the bureaucracy. However, companies that can establish connections as government contractors usually enjoy long-lasting opportunities.

With this in mind, if you want to learn more about doing business with the government or anything about doing government contracting, 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!