Market Research: Identifying and Targeting Your Market in Government Contracting
Market research is just one of those tasks we might dread, but we must get used to it. It is pertinent to streamlining your process, whether you moonlight as a data analyst or depend on a partner to perform it – it is an essential part of a government contractor’s everyday life – or at least it should be. We will dive into what market research is, who performs it, and how to give yourself an edge over the competition by getting good at performing it.
What is it?
According to Oxford, by definition, market research is “the action or activity of gathering information about consumers’ needs and preferences”.
From a process standpoint, it could mean something a little different for everyone depending on your industry. For example, we asked our research team what it means to them and received, “the art form of taking a daunting 100-column, 10k row set of federal transactions and turning it into a clear and profitable pathway”.
Who performs it?
Your targeted federal buyers, for one instance. The first step to any procurement, big or small (after the need has been determined of course) is market research. The government has to first, look for a small business to supply that product or service.
FAR 10 instructs federal contracting officers to “On an ongoing basis, take advantage (to the maximum extent practicable) of commercially available market research methods in order to effectively identify the capabilities of small businesses and new entrants into federal contracting, that are available in the marketplace for meeting the requirements of the agency…”
Another who should be performing market research is YOU, as the owner of your business. Perhaps, you have an employee or a team who does it for you by now. Nevertheless, it needs to be done and done so, regularly.
When is it performed?
As stated above, the government performs it immediately after a need has been determined by the agency.
You should be doing a market analysis quarterly and a comprehensive analysis at least annually. Sprinkling in there your normal solicitation review and agency forecasts – we can sum it up to about weekly.
Why is it important?
As a growing small business, especially if you are new and just emerging into the federal market – every penny counts. It is especially important to your success that you remain focused on those “leads” that will produce an ROI and less time spent on those swarmed with competition.
If you are a large business, you have a goal to increase federal revenues annually. To bid on more contracts, you are likely to network with small businesses to meet your subcontracting goals. You must find them somehow – market research.
The government is mandated by the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) to perform market research to provide opportunities to small businesses when there are enough to perform and then to respond. If an agency wants to award a lower price point contract through simplified acquisitions – they can do so, before the solicitation ever hits the likes of SAM.
What resources should you try?
Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) / USA Spending – Even though SAM has phased out the use of FPDS, there are (believe it, or not) still old-school data-divers out there who still prefer to aggregate their own data and create custom reports to suit every possible need. Curious as to what pricing type is most used? How about what set-asides are most predominant for a particular product? How about if a purchase card was used as a method of payment? No worries – they have you covered.
System for Award Management (SAM) – Could be a friend, could be a foe. It widely depends on the day. You might be comfortable with the new(er) ad hoc reporting feature in SAM, however, it still leaves much to be desired in comparison to the above suggestion. Now that you must log in to search entities, it can be time-consuming for non-avid users.
Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) – The Small Business Administration (SBA) hosts the DSBS for government agencies to perform market research on small businesses, however, it’s also used by prime contractors and others for teaming, partnering, and subcontracting opportunities. Be patient, it takes a while to load.
FedBiz Connect – A huge time-saver, providing all the above links to the company’s profile in one user-friendly interface. Free to use for anyone, there is also an upgrade called FedBiz Find – this is where you’ll find top awarding agencies and prime contractors with their contact information that match your company’s unique profile.
GSA eLibrary – Review GSA’s public library including your competitor’s GSA schedule pricing to ensure you’re coming in competitive. You’re welcome.
SubNet – Another SBA favorite, SubNet is traditionally where prime contractors go to post subcontracting opportunities. Sometimes they are broad, other times they are for a specific contract.
Market Intel – Search engine platform that provides instant access to open solicitations and expiring contracts based on a combination of your keywords, industry codes, and work area geography. Opportunity alerts include local, state, federal, and military solicitations.
What options exist?
Just like everything else in life, we face a choice. Do we spend our own time, or do we outsource? If you are one who likes to roll up their sleeves and dig into the data, KUDOS to you! You are exceedingly rare. Even if you are not proficient in using the resources above, sharpen your skills by working with a FedBiz-U coach and ‘learn while you earn.’
In addition to over 100+ courses on different topics in government contracting, you will also receive daily bid alerts matching your profile, access to federal points of contact to begin marketing, as well as monthly coaching. At the introductory rate of only $199/ month, be one of the first to jump on board. This is ideal for in-house federal sales and business development personnel, as well – get extra training seats at a discounted rate.
On the contrary, if you are more likely to catch a fleeting migraine at the mere glimpse of a 200-column spreadsheet – outsourcing might be ideal for this task. FedBiz Access has reporting tools designed to make your life easier. You do not have to be a data analyst by night, nor do you have to incur a $100k annual salary expense to get the answers you are seeking – Who buys what you sell? When? How?
Our Realtime Advanced Data Analysis Report (RADAR) will not only cost you far less time, but it results in huge salary savings, delivering only what you need to know in an easy-to-read PDF format. We will even include a custom video walk-through to allow you to make the most of your investment, training your team members for months to come.
