How To Get Federal Solicitations Set Aside For Your Business

Posted in: Blog, Business of Government, Government Contracting, Using Bidspeed on June 24, 2010 | 2 Comments

The Federal Government is looking for you. They like small business. They need small business. In fact, the Federal Government is required to “set-aside” certain procurements for a particular size or classification of business.

So why care? When a procurement is set-aside for a small or disadvantaged business, the government is effectively eliminating your toughest competition. While we believe strongly in the ability of small business, your chance of winning a set-aside procurement is almost 80% greater than an open procurement.

By law, the Federal Government is required to actively seek small business sources for every solicitation greater than $100,000. The method for this is called “Sources Sought.” (The requirement has many, many exceptions, and there are many, many workarounds, but the general idea is sound.)

On average, there are 1,200 Sources Sought notifications posted to FedBizOpps every month. In many cases, there are multiple solicitations that apply directly to your business.

A Sources Sought notification actually means “Small Business Sources Sought.” Sometimes the solicitation will specify explicitly that they are looking only for small businesses (or 8(a), HUBZone, …) to respond. (Even if it doesn’t say “only small businesses” it means only small businesses.)

If a Sources Sought opportunity is in your wheelhouse then you’ll want to add it to your watchlist and respond.

Every. Single. Time.

Sources Sought is your one chance to “get in early.”

In addition, responding to a Sources Sought notification is some of the best marketing and business development you can do for your business. It gives you a captive, interested audience with a real buyer who is required by law to read your response. Don’t waste this opportunity.

We know that you don’t have a full time capture and business development team. We know that you don’t have the time to respond. You’re too busy working on actual bids, right?

We’re introducing a new feature that’s available from an item on your watch list that makes it much faster, and much simpler to respond to Sources Sought notifications.

Responses from Bidspeed are fast, simple, and complete. Bidspeed can often reduce the response process from hours to minutes – making the decision to take the time to respond simple for the small business owner.

More importantly, the response process is simple, provides the contracting officer with a standard, complete, and readable response, and allows the small business owner to effectively manage their relationship with the government post-response, all with a minimum of time commitment from the small business.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Add appropriate Sources Sought solicitations to your watchlist. We’ve added a built-in filter (Filters Menu, Sources Sought Only) that will show only Sources Sought in the main search page. To add the item to your watchlist, click the ‘Add’ link on the list or the ‘Add’ button from the item’s detail page.
2. Click the ‘Respond’ button.
3. From the Response detail page, add the contracting officers, appropriate set-asides that your company has, and any documents that support your case. Typically you’ll attach your capabilities statement and a document that fully responds to the solicitation. Pay attention to the page limit, it’s often 10 pages or less.
4. Complete the form letter using the editor. Bidspeed provides a standard response that works well as an outline for the email response you are going to send.
5. Make SURE you answer all of the questions as stated in the solicitation. Failure to do so is almost guaranteed to make your response non-responsive.
6. Click ‘Send to Me Only.’ Check your email. Read the email. Make sure this is what you want to send.
7. If you have changes you can always get back to the response by clicking the ‘Respond’ button again from the opportunity detail page.
8. When you are ready to send the response click ‘Send.’ The response will be sent to the proper recipients and the opportunity will be marked as ‘Responded.’ (An alternative is to forward the email sent to you from your email client. If you do this, you’ll have to mark the opportunity as responded yourself.)
9. Follow up (Bidspeed automatically creates a task for this, assigned to you) to make sure your response was received. (Another chance to talk to the buyer, use it.)

Remember, this is one of the best marketing and business development tools you will ever find. Period. Here’s the best news – sign up right now and you can start developing your business today.

SAIC Announces Record Level of Small Business Sub-contracts

Posted in: Blog, Government Contracting, News on October 26, 2009 | No Comments

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today (October 26) that its small business strategy has yielded a record level of small business utilization for Government Fiscal Year 2009 (GFY 09), which ended in September. During GFY 09, SAIC awarded approximately $2 billion in subcontracts to small businesses, reflecting a 21 percent increase from last year. This included approximately $727 million awarded to women- and minority-owned firms, and more than $335 million awarded to veteran-owned businesses. (Read More: http://bit.ly/2L2RIy)

SAIC is a prime government contractor (Fortune 500) with about $10 billion a year in revenue. If you are a small business, working as subcontractor for a prime like SAIC is one of the better ways to land a federal contract. However, they aren’t out there actively looking for you. If you find a federal opportunity that makes sense for your company’s products or services it may make sense to approach some of the larger primes and establish a contact in their small business or mentor program.

Regardless, you need to be looking for the opportunities all the time, especially for solicitations that have a small business set-aside element. Sometimes a small-business set-aside can be an opportunity for a relationship with a prime contractor. If you’ve found an opportunity that’s perfect for your company but could see needing help to deliver, a relationship with a prime contractor as your sub-contractor could be a creative way to make your first federal deal.

This Year Is Looking Very Stimulating

Posted in: Blog, Government Contracting on October 8, 2009 | No Comments

The federal fiscal year started on Oct. 1. This means that the fourth-quarter (July-Sept) was a spending spree for federal buyers. If you’ve been following the trends on FedBizOpps you’ll notice that the number of new early stage solicitations (Pre-solicitation and Sources Sought) is starting to rise. The fourth-quarter saw mostly notifications of money that was being spent – e.g. Sole Source, Special Notice, and Re-awards of one type or another.

When the dust settles and the final numbers are reported for the 2009 federal fiscal year, spending will have topped $550 billion. Fiscal year 2010 is likely to look much the same. On top of that, the Obama Administration has set a goal of spending 70% of the stimulus money by this time next year. That’s $592 billion. So far, only 47% has been allocated for specific purposes; of that only 16% has been spent. That leaves over $314 billion of new money that has yet to be allocated.

This year is looking very stimulating.

Remember, the stimulus money is actually small compared to the everyday purchases that federal, state, and local governments make. What’s more important – the government buys everything. The question is whether you’re willing to do what it takes to win the business.

So, the money is out there – you just have to do your research, choose the correct opportunities to pursue, and start responding. Our suggestion – start with a simple process.

• Do your research – follow the deals on FedBizOpps, read about government spending, talk to potential partners. Get involved early – you have almost nothing to lose by responding to a Sources Sought solicitation – if nothing else, it will help you tailor your message to government buyers.
• Choose wisely – First, if you are small business, look first at small business set asides, your chances of winning these are higher. Second, stay centered – there isn’t a need to stretch in most cases, look for the deals that fit your company.
• Respond – read the RFP, follow the rules, and above all, respond on time. For RFPs, if you don’t have time to prepare a reasonable response (quote) you probably are better off moving on to the next deal. If you’re involved early (and you WILL be, right?) ask questions before you respond. There isn’t any need to guess – if it’s unclear, ask.

Agencies to spend more on IT in 2010

Posted in: Blog, Business of Government, Government Contracting on October 6, 2009 | 1 Comment

The government research company INPUT announced at a webinar on Tuesday that information technology spending at civilian agencies should climb significantly next year, but much of the money will be spent renewing or replacing existing contracts.

The total value of the 20 largest federal IT projects in 2010 is 50 percent higher than the previous year, increasing from about $120 billion to $180 billion.

The majority (all but two) of the projects are contracts that will be re-competed (which is good if you are new to government contracting, especially if you are a small business) or are consolidations of existing pacts (which is good for you if you are a potential sub-contractor).

The best and largest example is the Homeland Security Department’s EAGLE II contract which will replace the EAGLE contract as DHS’ preferred vehicle for procuring IT services. This is a huge contract – INPUT expects DHS to award EAGLE II during the second quarter of fiscal 2010 with a ceiling of $45 billion. The original contract had about $2.8 billion in business during fiscal 2007 and $3.3 billion during fiscal 2008.

DHS is choosing to re-compete EAGLE II rather than exercising the original contract’s two option periods because many of the small business vendors originally awarded under EAGLE have outgrown their small business and disadvantaged designations.

Here’s the really good news if you are a small business that provides IT services: DHS is looking for a new set of small business vendors for EAGLE II. The contract will include separate tracks for different classes of vendors, including small businesses, service-disabled owned companies, 8(a) certified organizations, and firms located in HubZones.

If you want to know more about EAGLE II, you might read the recently posted (September 22^nd) copy of the vendor day questions – (https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=6a0edab4eb0b1e83a3f46ff0cced4b7d). In Bidspeed, search for DHSEAGLE2-UNRESTRICTED in the global search.

Why A Well-Defined Process Is Essential To Government Contracting Success

Posted in: Blog, Government Contracting on October 2, 2009 | 1 Comment

The dramatic downturn in the global economy and a change in government administration have created an unprecedented business environment for today’s government contractors. Whether you are just getting started or preparing for an increasingly competitive marketplace, it is critical for government contractors to have well-structured processes and technologies in place, especially when it comes to business development – that is, new business development.

Government contracting opportunities can seem so plentiful that the prospect can quickly become overwhelming. The federal government alone spends hundreds of billions a year in a normal year. After the stimulus plan passed, those numbers just got boosted by several hundred billion more.

Of course, to be successful in your government contracting effort, you are going to need to follow some sort of well-defined process. You still have to target the correct prospects (agencies) and qualify the correct leads.

We’re not saying that your process has to be a complex process, we’re just saying that you need one. It isn’t just us that’s saying this either, according to an article in Harvard Business Review (Understanding What Your Sales Manager is Up Against), using a standardized, well-defined, business development process increases a company’s ability to accurately target prospects by 20% and properly qualify leads 30%.

Truthfully, only the largest (and most successful) government contractors have invested in a “well-defined” process and a technology solution that helps their business development people follow the process. That doesn’t mean you have to be a large company or even a successful government contractor to have this magic of a “well-defined process.” Even small companies CAN be successful if they follow a few basic rules:

• Start now. Last month there were over 15,000 new federal opportunities submitted. These are real leads with a value greater than $25,000. The opportunity is there but you need to get started.
• Choose wisely. Easy to say, we know. You will not win using a shotgun approach. Read the RFP and decide if it makes sense. Keep track of who the contracting officer is and ask them questions. Keep track of the questions. Keep track of the answers.
• The “Hail Mary” approach does not work. You cannot paste together a bunch of company boilerplate, pick a price based on what you’d LIKE to be paid, and expect that the contracting officer will pick you because you know that you can do the job. You’ll have to invest a little time, simple as that.
• Find out why you didn’t win. So you didn’t get the contract? Ask why. Every. Single. Time. In fact, contracting officers are required to “de-brief” you on their selection. You’ll have to ask nicely but most of them are humans and are willing to fill you in. So ask. And, keep track of the answers.
• Write it down. That response document you just spent a week working on is valuable intellectual property. Keep it around – somewhere safe and where it’s easily shared. You should also keep exactly one copy – the FINAL one.
• Expand your thinking. Federal opportunities aren’t the only government contracting available. Every government entity – state, local, city, county, even local civic centers and libraries, have some sort of procurement process. Sure, it can be a little overwhelming to find this data, but it’s out there and once you have it, the process is exactly the same.
• Get some help. If you run your own small business then you are probably already smart, capable, and really, really busy. So take the help where you can. Our suggestion – start by using Bidspeed. Four reasons: One: it’s super simple. Two: it’s part of a “well-defined” process. Three: it’s cheap. Four: it works.