The Government Bidding Process: Understanding the Market

With a yearly purchasing expense of nearly $200 billion, the U.S. government is without a doubt the world’s biggest buyer of products and services. With civilian and military installations making an extensive range of purchases from gargantuan space shuttles to hospital beds and equipment to computer printers and ink, the government practically makes acquisitions of a wide category of products and services available.

What the Law Says

Federal laws require government agencies to establish contracting goals, with which 25 percent should go to small businesses. Contracts should likewise be awarded to small disadvantaged businesses, service-disabled businesses owned by veterans, HUBZone businesses, as well as women-owned businesses.

While these government-wide objectives are not always realized, they are critically significant in that federal agencies are legally obliged to reach out to small businesses and consider them for procurement opportunities. Hence, it is up to you to tune up your business products and services with the buying requirements of the government.

Doing business with the federal government is comparable to selling to a private entity. While the former follows a different set of rules and regulations, most marketing tactics that you may be familiar with and have been using can be used here as well. It should go without saying that it is critical to know the federal agency that you plan to go into business with and completely understand how your product or service can well be incorporated in their organizational system.

What SBA’s Role Is

The U.S. Small Business Administration is geared at promoting and encouraging economic development by being readily available to help jump-start young businesses and facilitate growth with the established ones. While it is no surprise that small businesses are often bombarded with considerable obstacles when trying to win government contracts, the SBA is here to help them go through these hurdles.

Closely working with government agencies and the country’s major contractors, the Small Business Administration helps ensure that small businesses are given fair chances of winning government contracts (and subcontracts).

What the Government’s Buying Process Is

The government purchases majority of its needed products and services exclusively from suppliers who meet their qualifications. Standard regulations are implemented and should be followed when making procurements. Unlike the average household, the government will have their own contracting officials follow procurement procedures that have been established parallel with those of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).   

Used by federal agencies in all procurement processes, the FAR is a standard set of rules that enumerates the steps necessary in completing the purchasing procedure—right from the moment someone in the government decides that there is a need to buy a product or avail of a service up until the procurement is completed.

The government will purchase a particular product or service by choosing among a range of bidding methods, which include sealed bidding, simplified acquisition procedures, consolidated purchasing, or contracting by negotiation among others.

What You Need to Do

When on the road to doing business with the government, get as much available information as you can on the federal agencies’ past contracts, awards, costs, quantities, set criteria, etc. Market your business and make it known to agencies that make potential purchasers.  

Take a good look at your company, and make sure that you know your products and services by heart. The government will be eager to know your track record, your credibility, your financial status, and the capabilities of your personnel, among others. This way it won’t be too hard to know what to offer them when the government will consider your company for a contract.

StateAndFederalBids prides in its extensive collection of state, local, and federal bids, covering a large selection of categories for products and services. StateAndFederalBids is your first step to establishing a solid, long-term business relationship with the government. 

The Contract Application Process: Everything You Need to Know

Awarding of government contracts is influenced by an extensive list of factors. It is more than just submitting the lowest bid and getting awarded for the project. Selling to government organizations entails the use of the same strategies and principles as when selling products or services to the average commercial consumer. Regardless, both customers are making sure they are guaranteed to receive top-quality products and services on time and at a reasonable price.

The Background Check

While a large percentage of government agencies do not require an extensive background investigation about the business, many will request information to be provided under oath including the business profile, owners, employees, finances, etc. Defense contractors and other agencies working with classified materials do need in-depth background check. For this, the company’s criminal, administrative, and taxpaying history will be carefully looked into before they can be allowed to get into a contract with the government.

The Registration

Prospective suppliers for all levels of government agencies are required to register prior to be their participation in the contract bidding. The registration process is critical as it provides the avenue with which the business’s basic information is gathered as it will be needed to determine and evaluate their qualifications. More often than not, the process is renewed on a yearly basis so businesses make sure that all information is not only accurate and concise but also updated. To know more about registering with the System for Award Management (SAM), please read here.

The Research

It should go without saying that before submitting any contract proposals, businesses should always conduct their own research so they will familiarize themselves with the government agency that they are planning to conduct business with. While price may be one of the most important requirements in these transactions, there are other variables that must likewise be carefully examined prior to submitting proposals.

In the planning phase of getting a contract, the business must also be able to accurately determine the decision makers as this may vary from one transaction to another. While some government agencies may be the ones funding the contracts, they may not be the same ones making the procurement decisions. In some cases, procurements are jointly conducted among many agencies or some elected authorities from various affiliations will have an influence on the decision-making process.

Identifying decision makers such as procurement offices, purchasing agents, and small business representatives and letting them know about your business and your specialty can be very important and play a role when the next bid comes up. Hence, successful government contractors make sure that they are kept abreast of current political issues as well as government prerequisites and establish strong business relations with opinion authorities and leaders who can share insights that may give them a competitive edge in the market.

The Proposal

Among the primary factors considered in the process of picking a company to award a contract with is the quality and comprehensiveness of their proposal. In fact, a prospective vendor’s ability to follow procurement instructions is one major determinant of the company’s ability to comply with the contract procedures. It is therefore important that the company reviews the RFP prior to submission to ensure that all requirements have been met. It is also not wise to include information not requested in the RFP to gain an advantage.  This information is seldom reviewed, and procurement officers do not waste time looking at miscellaneous company information.   Also, regardless of its quality, a proposal submitted beyond the given deadline is almost always never considered.

StateAndFederalBids highlights the world’s most extensive collection of state, local, and federal bids covering an expansive selection of categories for products and services. Whether you offer food catering services or provide construction and design materials or operate a minority-owned farming business, StateAndFederalBids is your one-stop shop for opportunities that will help you establish solid business relationships with the government.

Understanding the DoD’s Small Business Programs and Contracts

The Small Business Innovation Research Program

The United States Government program Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), which is currently authorized until September 30, 2017 and regulated by the Small Business Administration, supports and encourages all federal agencies with exterior research funds in excess of $100 million to have a percentage securely reserved for contracts and grants to small businesses.

Every year, the Department of Defense’s Small Business Innovation Research program equates to over $1 billion in research funds—with more than half of the contracts presented to companies with fewer than 25 people, a third of the contracts to businesses with fewer than 10, and a fifth to women- or minority-owned firms. In the past, around a quarter of the businesses awarded with contracts are first-time winners.

For a full discussion of the Small Business Innovation Research Program, please click here.

The Small Business Technology Transfer Program

In 1992 the U.S. Congress enacted the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Similarly structured with the SBIR, the STTR finances and supports cooperative research and development programs with small businesses in association with non-profit research organizations (including but not limited to universities, colleges, etc.) to expand their research to the marketplace. As with the SBIR, the STTR is likewise authorized up until September 20, 2017 for those federal agencies with external research budgets of over $1 billion.

Here is a more comprehensive overview of the government’s Small Business Technology Transfer program.

The Three Phases of the SBIR/STTR Programs

The SBIR/STTR Programs are organized in three phases:

1. Phase 1 is the project feasibility phase wherein the commercial, scientific, and technical merits as well as feasibility of ideas submitted are determined and enumerated.
2. Phase 2 is the project development to prototype phase where the major research and development strategies are established, prototyping are funded, and the most promising phase 1 projects are demonstrated.
3. Phase 3 is the commercialization phase, which is the final and ultimate objective of every SBIR/STTR program.  The law requires that phase 3 efforts should be funded by external SBIR/STTR sources.

Read more about the SBIR and STTR programs here and see if your business is eligible to participate in them.

A Little Help from StateAndFederalBids

Every business day at 5 p.m., around $6.5 million worth of contracts from the Department of Defense are announced. The department has established an organized archiving system for old announcements on these contracts, which can be found here. To be a successful awardee and be added to this list, you need to initially learn about these opportunities and prepare a bid based on the government agency’s specifications.

StateAndFederalBids is still second to none when it comes to purposefully gathering, sorting, and monitoring these bids to provide promising solutions for small firms and organizations considering to sign contracts and to establish business relations with the Department of Defense.

Click here to learn more about how StateAndFederalBids.com can help you identify Defense bid opportunities suitable for your business.

How to Participate in DoD's Mentor-Protégé Program

1. Look for your partner.

The task of looking for a suitable partner falls on the mentor and the protégé as the DoD Offices of Small Business Programs (OSBP) are prohibited by law to interfere in the partnership process. It is therefore recommended that companies look to their existing business partnerships and from their build a team with the company they deem most compatible to theirs.

To qualify for the program, mentor companies must be undertaking at least one active approved subcontracting plan with the Department of Defense or any other federal agency. If you're new to the program and wish to apply as a mentor company, applications must be approved by and submitted to the OSBP of the cognizant military service or defense agency.

On the other hand, if you're a company looking to be the protégé, you must either be a: small disadvantaged business, an qualified organization employing severely disabled people, a woman-owned small business (WOSB), a service-disabled-veteran-owned business (SDVOWB), or located in a historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone).

Read more about the kind of small business here.

2. Identify the type of Agreement.

There are two types of DoD MPP agreements:

• Directly imbursed - the mentor receives reimbursement for the cost of development assistance they provide to the protégé.
• Credit - the mentor receives multiple credits in their pursuit of subcontracting goals based on the cost of developmental assistance provided to the protégé.

You can read more about the type of DoD MPP agreements here.

3. Develop Agreement.

Before developing the Agreement, OSBP recommends that an assessment first be made on the needs of the protégé firm. Developmental assistance provided by the mentor should be compatible to the methodological vision of the protégé. Furthermore, MPP agreements need to follow the requirements enumerated here and in the DoD MPP Agreement template as well.

4. Submit Agreement Proposal.

• For directly imbursed agreements, submissions are made to the OSBP of the cognizant military service or defense agency.
• For credit agreements, submissions are to the DCMA.

5. Begin!

• Directly imbursed agreements start on the date the specific contract vehicle is modified (the date funds obligated to the contract). Mentors cannot incur cost for credit or reimbursement until the agreement is approved.
• Credit agreements start on the date of their approval.

6. Report!

Each DoD MPP Agreement calls for semi-annual reports, yearly DCMA performance evaluations, and Protégé 2-year out reports. Mentor firms will do good to note that the annual DCMA performance review plays a key role in determining the amount of reimbursement they will receive in the remaining years of directly reimbursed Agreement participation.

7. Ask!

Comprehensive briefings on the MPP are available by appointment. You may direct inquiries on the process, protocols, requirements, or benefits to dodmpp@osd.mil. 

Source: http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sb/programs/mpp/participate.shtml

DoD's Mentor-Protege Program

If you are running a small disadvantaged business and want to try your luck with Department of Defense (DoD) bids, then you have no reason to fret about your chances of landing on a contract. The Department of Defense has a Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) that helps small disadvantaged businesses increase their market exposure and participation, creating new jobs and improving the national income in the process!

This is how the MPP works:

You, the small business owner is the protégé and the bigger company you partner with is the mentor. Your mentor has ideally won contracts before and has ample working knowledge about the entire procurement process. They will help you put your best foot forward in competing for prime contracts and subcontract awards under individual, project-based agreements.

Areas of specialization that the MPP covers include environmental remediation, engineering, information technology, manufacturing, telecommunications, and healthcare. Recently, the program has been concentrating on corrosion engineering, information assurance, robotics, circuit board, and metal component manufacturing. Future agreements will hopefully include new technology areas as well (e.g., radio frequency identification devices).

The MPP is advantageous to both the mentor and protégé company. A number of mentor companies have integrated the program into their sourcing strategies, and protégé companies have benefited from the program by way of a more diversified customer base and expanded market. Many MPP protégé firms have won contracts and established fruitful business partnerships with government entities.

Writing a Proposal

Writing proposals doesn't have to be a dreadful, difficult task for companies who are vying for that much-coveted government contract. Though every proposal is unique, the structure is pretty much standard. Here's how you can write a good proposal:

•  Make an executive summary informing the evaluators of your capabilities and competency as a company; in short, why they should choose you over the others. Also put in your work methodologies and how you're going to accomplish what the government requests of you.

• Provide a list of resume and qualifications and responsibilities of the key personnel and subcontractors named in the proposal.

• Answer the major topics in the request for proposal (RFP). Follow the sequence as requested.

• If you are to include charts and graphs in your proposal, make sure that the charts and graphs contribute to the verification of your company as legitimate and competent; in other words, relevant. 

• Show off your track record. Provide a list of satisfactory completion of similar projects in size and complexity or of providing similar services to companies of similar size and/or characteristics.

• Provide a safety plan if you are preparing a proposal involving machinery, chemicals, or equipment that could conceivably cause injury.

Invest effort in making your proposal as well-written as possible. Read and re-read so typos and mistakes can be corrected before the document is submitted. Complete and sign all paperwork properly. Remember that one small glitch in your papers can cause you the contract, so make sure that everything is spot clean before sending it out.

Good luck!

How to Snag Military Bids

As a country that prides itself of its military prowess, the United States spends a significant amount of dollars investing on military contracts for companies to provide them military equipment and services.

How exactly can you land on military contracts? Here's how!

1. Register your business and set up a System for Award Management (http://www.sba.gov/) profile. The government first has to make sure that you are running a legitimate business before awarding contracts, so be sure go all the way in making your profile as informative as possible---your services, business methods, track record, even financial information.

2. A number of military contracts may demand specific certification so read through the requirements thoroughly.

3. Look and apply for contracts through the federal, local, and state government. Procurement laws necessitate government agencies to post contract opportunities through any means possible so that the relevant entities can be informed of their availability. StateandFederalBids.com features an exhaustive database of government bids (not just military) and alerts subscribers if there are bids they can apply for and pursue.

4. Before even considering to enter into a contract with the government, be absolutely sure that your  company is qualified to handle a military contract if awarded to you. If you indeed win and fall short of following through all the terms and conditions, then that might as well be the last government contract you're likely to handle.

5. Trust your company's abilities! You can do it!