FedBiz’5 | Episode 1: What is Federal Contracting?
What is federal contracting? To understand federal contracting, you first need to understand the fundamentals before we dive into any other related subjects.
Welcome to our new podcast. FedBiz’5 is your definitive resource to accelerating government sales. FedBiz’5 is a hard-hitting, 5-minute series of free government podcasts designed to help federal contractors find and win more business. Each episode brings new information and strategies from leading experts to help simplify government contracting and provide you a clear path from registration to award. The FedBiz team has more than 20 years of experience in government contracting with over $27.9 Billion in client awards.
If you think of the federal government as a business, it is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world. Everything that they use, everything that they need, office supplies, everything must come from somewhere, and that place is typically the private sector. So, if you have a product or a service that is valuable in the commercial world, in all likelihood, there’s a place for you in the federal market.
If you are trying to sell your product or service to the government and you are not getting anywhere, the reason may be you do not meet their basic requirements. Federal contractors will not just buy anything from anybody. There are certain steps and certain requirements you need to meet.
Your preliminary requirements are registrations through SAM (System for Award Management) and DSBS (Dynamic Small Business Search). These are your business and marketing profiles that need to be complete, compliant, and optimized. Secondarily, you need to investigate if you may qualify for a socio-economic certification for special set-aside contracts. In addition, your finances and operations should be in good order so that you can show your ability to sustain and fulfill awards.
Once you have established this foundation, you need to address these questions:
- How can I best showcase my products/services and capabilities?
- How do I create relationships with federal agencies and contracting officials?
- What is the best way to find opportunities – published and unpublished?
While published opportunities can be found on beta.SAM.gov (soon to revert back to SAM.gov), a large percentage of awards never sees the light of day in the form of a public solicitation. It is estimated that less than 35% of the actual market ever gets posted in the form of an open solicitation. Many awards are via government credit cards, purchase orders, sole-source set-asides, GSA Schedule awards, renewed awards, and many other closed award procedures.
As the Small Business Administration points out about identifying your market, which is really after you’ve determined whether you are a good fit or not for government contracting, is to know whether there’s a market for you and you can sustain it. The next step beyond your registrations is to then determine who your buyers are and how to get your foot in the door.
This podcast is sponsored by FedBiz Access – https://fedbizaccess.com. For government contracting made simple, call (888) 299-4498.
