subject: Going After Government Contracts [print this page] Federal government contract jobs are certainly not restricted to big government companies. Small businesses may even go after U.S. government deals too. Certainly, there are numerous services which attempt to support small businesses in obtaining these kinds of deals. The government determined that a percentage of the nation's purchasing shall be carried out using small business. Besides, one can find programs such as the Small Business Administration's 8(a) or HUBZone certification programs that assist small enterprises get hold of federal deals.
Civil acquisitions in the United States government over $25,000 have to be put out for competitive bid with the FedBizOpp quote system (there can be a few exceptions). FBO.gov will be the government's website detailing business opportunities to work in supplying the US government. There are a variety of actions needed for enrolling to work as a supplier for the US government. This enrollment also enables a business to answer FedBizOpps entries, however, these are mainly procedural. Finding some of these FedBizOpps entries quickly is vital, simply because making a reply packet might require a substantial period of time.
The awarding of contracts is just not an easy matter. Making sure a company's submission has everything necessary is a important and can be challenging as Request For Proposals (RFP) might be a several hundred pages or longer. Lacking a signature here or there may wipe out all of the effort given to a response proposal. And then, once conquering that challenge, the contract choice will not be as straightforward as a low quote winner. The government enjoys using an award practice referred to as Best Value.
This Best Value is actually utilized to decide federal government contracts through considering several factors as opposed to merely looking at cost. Valuations such as past performance is considered together with cost and are scored. They then are put into an assessment matrix to find out who is able to offer the federal government the very best value. Why use this process and not low bid? The federal government has been fooled by suppliers that quote cheaply to obtain the job and then perform poorly. Or the low quote winners try to get modifications to the contract for additional funds after the job was awarded.
You can question the current rules and turtle-like response times, is it worth selling to the federal government? The response is that contracting and purchasing employees are extremely devoted to their present suppliers. They will do anything possible to maintain them as suppliers. Because getting fresh suppliers may be a bothersome procedure for purchasing personnel. Conducting a solicitation can be a substantial undertaking in the job of purchasing. Numerous departments must okay the RFP after which there will probably be changes that may lead to further problems in the future.
Also, dealing with fresh suppliers may be difficult. These people probably are not mindful of reporting requirements and are uncertain to exactly what details to include in reports. This can require baby-sitting a brand-new supplier as they become aware of the federal procedures. Utilizing a present supplier helps make the life of purchasing personnel and contracting officers less difficult. Want evidence? Observe that the majority of federal government RFP's are going to have a clause that the contract can be extended (without competitive bid) on annual basis after the initial contract period has ended.
The reason to go after federal government contracts? When a small business gets to be known as a good supplier from purchasing personnel, the purchasing and contracting personnel are going to do anything they can to maintain that company as a supplier. Obtaining that respected status with contracting officers can be a lengthy and difficult procedure. But it also goes to show how deep the relationship will be.
