GSA Contract: Hire Guns, or Be Your Own Lookout?

Do I Need A Consultant To Get A GSA Schedule?

In a word, no. GSA’s contracting officers will tell you that, too: there is no legal requirement to hire someone to prepare and negotiate your offer to GSA. But wait, do you do your own taxes? Why else would you pay perfectly good money to have someone do something that you could do yourself? Typically because:

• You want it done right, as the finished work has long term consequences;


• You want it done promptly, a challenge if this isn’t your speciality; and


• You want the inside advantages that a seasoned expert brings to the finished document.

Those are the same reasons why it’s worth considering some kind of help when you’re preparing your proposal for your GSA Schedule Contract.

However, a consultant is not right for everyone. There is no guarantee that the more you spend, the better your proposal will be, and no correlation at all between what you spend on your proposal and how much you sell once you have a Schedule Contract. Only you can provide the critical corporate data that the consultant is going to require. So plan on spending time, regardless of which option you pick. Check the references of anyone whose services you’re thinking of engaging!

Read more here: GSA Schedules -- Seven Things You MUST Know

Preparing To Make A Prime Pitch

Ready, Aim, Team!

Now that you're back from the OSDBU conference and are sorting through those cards and contacts...how are your follow-up plans going?

Do you remember in school how your parents always harped on you to do your homework so you would get A's on your exams? That was practice for real life as a vendor.

It's time to get ready for those teaming meetings -- so start by:

• targeting best-fit projects for you in the government agency
• narrowing your focus to the most likely primes/partners
• tailoring your pitch -- that is, your capability statement -- around that.
  

That's where those Five People You Need To Meet come in.
Expect that it's going to take time -- so get started. Get to know the program managers and end users of your product or service. Research their missions, challenges, incumbent vendors, and what buyers do – or don’t – like about the products and services they’re using now. Once they trust you, you learn who the decision-makers are, who influences them (Think tanks? Consultants? Trade press?), what their budgets might be, and what the spending plans are – how much money will be spent, and when.

Your status as a woman-owned, 8(a) or other small business is a minor advantage to a Prime contractor, so you might get their attention when you make that initial appointment. Once the meeting starts, how can you make it count? Here's what the primes say:

• Focus on Reality - What do you expect from a prime contractor, and what are you bringing to the table?


• Research Your Prospective Partner - Bring in the potential business — what new leads and client relationships can you bring to the Prime? Why should you be given attention?


• Register and Followup - Online registration is necessary but not sufficient on its own to gain a partnership with a large Prime. Did you call back and continue the connection until you actually found a project you both agreed you wanted to work on?
  

Learn more from my new "Meeting And Teaming Prep Workbook"!

Easy Tips For Pre-RFP Marketing

Where Key Relationships Begin

Marketing Calls

A vendor who targets her most promising buyers and build relationships with them over time has a distinct advantage. She gets to know the program managers and end users of her product or service. By keeping your target customers informed about the leading edge developments of your products and services through personal contact, you can build their interest in working with you. That can influence the specifications for the solicitation that ends up in FedBizOpps.


Who are The Five People You Need To Meet? (Find that out HERE.)

When calling on government officials, identify yourself and your company, and the procurement or requirement that you’d like to talk about. Ask whether the person you’re speaking with can discuss the requirement, and whether there are limitations on what you can discuss. If you or your contact is uncertain about that, get answers before going further. Making those connections opens the door for your selection. People first turn to people they know when they're developing requirements -- even if the rules say they have to consider every offer. And you want to meet those people before you start responding to RFP's.

What About Requests for Information (RFI), Sources Sought, Draft RFP's?

Aha! While these are procurement activities, they don't promise any purchase or intent to purchase. They ARE some of the ways government buyers find out things like:

• Whether enough small businesses can meet the requirement to merit a set-aside!
• Where is the leading edge of available technology; and
  
• Whether industry can meet a complex requirement at all.

Rules for participation are fairly simple (check the Federal Acquisition Regulations).

BUT YOU HAVE TO PLAY IF YOU WANT TO WIN.
You can't complain there's no set aside for you if you didn't speak up to say you can do the work!

When Does The Win Really Start? (Hint)

Long Before The RFP in FedBizOpps!

The US government issues 95,000 solicitations every day. However, people tell you, "If the first time you read about it is in FedBizOpps, it’s already too late." So how does a business get the inside track?

FedBizOpps is the official source for US federal contract solicitations. But if you register there and request to receive even *selected* RFP's, three things will happen:

1. Your inbox will bust.
2. You feel like a total loser because you don't have time to pick which ones you could win.
3. You give up, deciding "There’s got to be a better way."

Cheer up: so far, you've learned a lot, but in reality had slim hopes at best.

Congratulations -- you're no longer a loser.
You're actually now on the path to WINNING.
And that involves marketing. See tomorrow's post for ideas!