Cracking the federal procurement market
Rachel Lyubovitzky wrote in for tips on how her software company can expand into government sales. What do you recommend?
From David Sonde, Washington, DC There are a number of ways to penetrate the federal space. One of the more easy methods is to create a contracting vehicle (i.e.: GSA (General Services Administration) Schedule contract). These Schedule contracts are pre-negotiated price lists that have been evaluated and approved by the government for their procurement needs.
There are more than 40 different Schedules representing services and products in just about every industry.
Having a Schedule in place for your customer can shorten the lead time to 15 days on average as opposed to 260+ days for full and open competition (RFP, RFQ, etc…).
Once the Schedule is approved, then your marketing efforts should begin. This means identifying potential buyers at the program level. These are the buyers crafting the procurements around the needs of the agency. Connecting with one of them will be vital to your success. Usually, with a strong enough relationship, one can help devise the solutions and specify the products and/or services that will need to be procured.
My company, The Winvale Group (www.winvale.com) has helped hundreds of commercial entities, new to the marketplace, do business with the federal government. Not only can we help your firm secure a GSA Schedule but we can help identify the customer base you need to pursue.
From alan, alexandria, va Hi Rachel. I own a federal government contracting firm and have been selling into federal for 22 years. Most of the advice in the article is awful on so many levels. Email me on my gmail account if you want to talk about the real world of goverment contracting and how you can penetrate this market. I am at amint1963@gmail.com
Alan
Hi Rachel,
David Sonde’s response to your question was very good. Kudos to him. Here’s another one: as a female you could consider applying for 8(a) Certification under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Business Development Program. Years ago the program was originally designed to help level the playing field for minority business owners; however, as a result of the enlightenment achieved from the contribution of women in the struggle for equality in the marketplace, entrance into the program was later extended to white females. SBA 8(a) Certification has proven to be a very effective capture tool for women business owners of all races. I work with a firm (Parson & Associates, LLC – http://www.ParsonLLC.com ) that has a stellar record in assisting applicants in preparing winning 8(a) application packages, which can be quite challenging for busy entrepreneurs. Call me. Mia Orantes – (301) 372-0060.