The complexity that surrounds selling to the government often creates a barrier that causes potential vendors, particularly small businesses with limited resources, to never explore how doing business with the government could add a substantial and steady source of revenue to their portfolio. This article outlines the best practices for vendors to follow in order to most effectively do business with the government. It should be noted that this article will only focus on the process involved pre Request for Proposal (RFP) and not how to effectively respond to a government solicitation or any part of the process after the RFP phase.
Start As a Subcontractor Or Form a Joint Venture
The lack of prevalent government contracting past experience is one of the biggest barriers that many companies, especially small businesses, may face when trying to enter the government procurement industry since past performance is such a heavy evaluation factor in determining whether or not a firm will win an award. Nevertheless, there are ways for businesses with limited or no government work to gain relevant past performance without winning outright winning government contracts. The first strategy to overcome this barrier involves a company with little to no government contracting past performance experience being a subcontractor on a government contract to another company that did have enough substantial past performance to win a contract. This way the company with limited past performance not only gains performance through being a subcontractor but is also able to learn the industry more effectively by working with a general contractor that does have substantial government contracting past performance. Along those same lines, another strategy for a company with limited government contracting past performance to gain experience would be to form a joint venture with another company that does have substantial past performance in federal contracting to go after federal contracts. Much like the subcontractor strategy, this allows a company with a limited amount of past performance in government contracting the ability to gain relevant experience by “piggybacking” off a company that does have adequate past performance.
Understand The Government’s Rules
Before reviewing best practices it is important to examine certain differences between government procurement and typical commercial procurement in order to provide better contrast for why certain best practices are effective. Unlike the private sector where companies and consumers can often determine their own criteria for purchasing, government buyers must follow certain rules, in federal contracting, these are known as the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), which are in place to make procurement decisions fair and transparent for the taxpayers. Although the extensive rules, such as the FAR, do succeed in creating a fair and transparent procurement process, they also add a level of complexity and make for longer sales cycles. As mentioned, the federal government has a standard set of rules, the FAR, and it is important for any potential vendor to familiarize themselves with the FAR for federal contracts or the specific rules of the state they are doing business with. While states do not have to adhere to the FAR, it is recommended that vendors familiarize themselves with it, as a majority of the states’ regulations will contain similar regulation themes.
Leverage Public Information
Government procurement does offer potential vendors some advantages as well. Unlike in the private sector, the government often generates more reports and statistics that can be used as market research to help companies target what products or services certain government agencies need. For example, each federal agency has a dedicated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officer whose job it is to respond to requests regarding agency buying trends, competitor’s past bids, and other valuable information that can also be used for market research. This public information can provide insight on things such as the agency’s budget, the agency’s procurement history, agency procurement trends and even information pertaining to potential competitors.
Identify & Network With Decision Makers Before The RFP
Even with all the complex rules and regulations regarding registration and procurement decisions, selling to the government is ultimately like selling to any other organization in that, in the end, it is people who will make the final buying decision. Timing is critical in regard to government procurement. Government buying opportunities are most commonly solicited through some sort of RFP or IFB process that is often posted on the government’s website, for example, beta.sam.gov is the federal government procurement website. However, in most cases, if the RFP or IFB is the first time a potential vendor is seeing a government solicitation, that vendor is already behind the competition. In government procurement, it is critical for a potential vendor to identify and market to key decision-makers well before an RFP is issued. Not only does this practice allow the vendor to better prepare for the RFP, but it may also allow them to help influence how the RFP is written. The government likes to conduct market research before writing an RFP in order to gain relevant information that will help the more effectively write an RFP that will result in a purchase that meets their needs. Vendors that are involved with the government early on will likely be used to help the government gather the market research that is used to write the RFP.
Meet With The Technical Personnel
In government procurement, the contracting officer or specialist is the person(s) involved in ensuring that both the government and the private vendor adhere to all of the procurement rules. While they are incredibly important to the process, they are not the key decision-makers. That role is filled by the technical personnel such as program officers, CIOs, and end-users typically at the agency level. Meeting with the technical personnel is of significant value because they are the ones who can provide insight as to what technical evaluation factors the procuring agency is going to value the highest.
Attend Events Hosted By The Government
There is no secret to finding these decision-makers other than traditional networking. There are many different avenues to pursue in networking when it comes to government procurement. Potential vendors should attend procurement trade-shows, pre-proposal conferences, and any other event that a government agency is hosting. Pre-proposal conferences can be particularly beneficial because they may allow a vendor to solicit feedback on how the government is approaching an opportunity that may later help determine how the government structures the future bid, giving that vendor a higher chance of winning it.
Only Ask For Public Information
Once in front of these decision-makers, there are certain messaging strategies that will make for more effective communication and build stronger relationships. When communicating with those involved in government procurement, potential vendors should always start the conversation by making it clear that they are only looking for public information. Government personnel is very concerned about keeping the integrity of the procurement process and will immediately become leery of a vendor they think is trying to gain insider information in order to obtain an unfair competitive advantage in the procurement process. Companies that start these conversations with the assurance that they are only looking for public information show government personnel that they are both ethical and they understand the procurement process; this helps them gain trust from decision-makers.
Increase A Solicitation’s Competition
Focusing on the desire to be competitive is also a key strategy that vendors should use when speaking with government decision-makers. Similar to the government’s concern over the integrity of the procurement process, they are almost equally concerned with the level of competition involved in the procurement process. The government is often of the belief that when the competition involved in procurement is higher it increases the chances that the government will receive the best product, which is why they respond well to questions about how a vendor can help increase the level competition associated with a solicitation.
Use The Right Messaging
A key component to a successful meeting with government personnel is for vendors to arrive with a specific set of questions as this indicates their level of preparation and shows respect for the decision-makers’ time. An example of a question often used by seasoned vendors to extract useful information is, “When you are speaking at industry events, what do you tell people is most important to the success of your work?” This type of question is effective because it does not make the vendor look like they are trying to sell something or gain inside information, but, instead, better understand how to help the agency meet its goals. When speaking to the government vendors should craft their messaging and questions to sound focus on how their product or service can be a solution to an agency’s problem or a means to an agency’s goal as opposed to just trying to sell them something.
Provide The Government With Quality Information
The effectiveness of meetings with government personnel not only depends on the quality of information extracted by the vendors from government decision-makers but also on the quality of the information provided by the vendors to the decision-makers. Vendors should be sure to have a capability statement prepared to share as well as relevant information on their past performance, credentials, office locations and personnel status. Providing the government decision-maker with quality information ensures the government adequately understands the vendor’s product or service allowing them to make a more informed decision in regard to the solicitation. Not only does providing quality information enables the government to make a more informed solicitation decision, but it may also help the government write a more specific and informed RFP, which in turn can boost the quality of vendors’ responses.
Conclusion
A vendor’s ability to succeed in government contracting can be attributed largely to their desire and ability to do their due diligence and be detail-oriented. Understanding and adhering to the complex regulations involved in government procurement requires an immense level of due diligence and great attention to detail. It is not enough to simply adhere to these regulations, vendors must understand that the reason they exist is to create a procurement process that is both fair and transparent. It is this effort to create a fair and transparent procurement process that holds the other key to vendor success in government contracting and that is for vendors to act ethically throughout the entire procurement process in an effort to preserve its integrity and be a trusted vendor for the government to do business with.