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Installment
[ 06 ]
Finding Government Bidding Opportunities
By
Richard White
Until now we've been discussing the fact that, for most companies, it is helpful (often crucial) to reach the official buyers or end-users that may need your products or services. Communicating with these folks can be important because a lot of purchasing activity takes place outside the world of formal public bidding -- e.g., micro, small and multiple award schedule purchases. And even where public bids are involved, it's often prudent to know the needs of an agency (specifically the needs of end-users) before a formal bid is published.
In this installment, we take a closer look at bidding opportunities (both published and unpublished) that emanate from government buyers.
Unpublished Bidding Opportunities
Small, unpublished procurements make up what is sometimes called the "hidden government market." Although it is unquestionably huge, no one seems to have a handle on its exact size. We think the market may range from $250 to $280 billion of the total federal, state, and local $700-billion market.
As we discussed in Installment 3, buyers in the so-called hidden market often seek verbal quotes from three or more vendors. This may be the best example of why you need to get to know the needs of the agency and talk to the right people.
The goal of course is to be one of the three vendors that get the phone call, fax or email seeking a quote.
It might be helpful at this point to consider some of the various methods buyers use to find the right vendors in this situation. At all levels of government, buyers will often rely on one or more of the following sources:
- Their own vendor files and personal knowledge.
- Their own manual or electronic bidders list (vendor registration usually required).
- Agency- or government-wide vendor directories like the federal Central Contractor Registration and PRO-Net databases. Most states have a central vendor directory.
- Industry directories like Thomas Register.
- Government e-procurement systems. Most large states have them and the federal government has several. Some of these systems are catalog-based, some are RFQ-based, and some are both.
When you're talking to a buyer, ask him how he locates vendors for small purchases. In some instances, it will be critical to be in that particular location. For example, if that buyer is with a certain agency in, say, North Carolina and that agency only uses the state's e-procurement system for obtaining its three-or-more quotes, then you'd better register with the system.
Again, focusing is the key. (Are you detecting a theme throughout this series?) Don't scatter your company information around in various directories just for the heck of it. Concentrate on those that matter to your target agencies.
Published Bidding Opportunities
That said, most companies that wish to thrive in government contracting must still stay on top of publicly-posted bid notices This is especially true for companies trying to win contracts worth $25,000 or more.
Bidding opportunities for large purchases are published in the media specified in the agency's purchasing regulations (usually a local newspaper), at an agency's procurement Web site, or both.
The dollar threshold used to define a large purchase can be as low as $10,000 for smaller cities and counties and as high as $50,000 for a few states (e.g., California). The federal government requires formal advertising for purchases exceeding $25,000. We will use that threshold for purposes of this discussion.
Publication of small procurements (those under $25,000) is unpredictable. Generally, publication is not required by law and is at the discretion of the buyer.
An agency usually elects to publish its under-$25,000 procurements when it doesn't know sources for the product or service or when the agency is seeking new vendors. If published, small procurements will appear at an agency's Web site or local bid board and maybe in the local newspaper.
Some federal agencies choose to publish under-$25,000 procurements at FedBizOpps, others publish them at their agency's web site, and others choose not to publish them at all.
Federal Bidding Opportunities
Finding published federal procurement notices is relatively easy. By law, all federal procurements over $25,000 are published at the FedBizOpps Internet site. Under-$25,000 opportunities may appear at FedBizOpps at the discretion of the buyer.
FedBizOpps is a free Internet service and the service will email procurement opportunities to vendors at no charge based on selected product/ service categories.
Fedmarket.com is about to begin offering FedBiz Now, an enhanced FedBizOpps subscription service. It has enhanced features that include:
- Bidding opportunities, modifications and awards are delivered to your desktop within an hour of posting at FedBizOpps.
- Detailed information about the agency posting a solicitation, including links to advice on how to do business with the agency, buyer and end-user contact information, and related federal agencies, offices and locations.
- Search for bid opportunities beyond what's available at FedBizOpps:
1. Search federal bid boards posting under-$25,000 bid opportunities.
2. Search state and local opportunities available through Bidengine. Receiving federal procurement notices early can be important for some companies. Two examples where early notification can be important are:
- Service procurements often require recruiting an incumbent contractor's staff. The first company to call an incumbent contractor's project manager may have the edge in signing him/her to an exclusive employment contract.
- Frequently a day's lead can make the difference in preparing a high quality proposal in response to a complex requirement.
In many cases, however, the early notice will not be critical -- e.g., fixed price quotes that do not take a lot of time to prepare.
State And Local Bidding Opportunities
There are about 80,000 public purchasing authorities in the United States. About 45 states and 3,000 cities and counties publish bids on the Internet. These Internet sites represent the bulk of U.S. public purchasing dollars. The rest of the 80,000 are small counties, cities, and other public purchasing authorities that rely on newspapers or local bid boards to publish their bids.
State and local bidding opportunities are spread over thousands of Web sites. A number of subscription bid services attempt to cover this activity. Annual subscription fees range from $200 to over $1,000. It is impossible for a bid service to cover the nearly 80,000 state and local jurisdictions. Some have good coverage of Web site postings, some format the bids from Web sites and selected newspapers, and others do some of both.
Which service(s) do you select? Again, focusing your sales efforts is the key. Once you have focused on the agencies you want to target, you can select a bid service based on how well the service covers your the particular area.
Companies with only a few target agencies may elect to bookmark bid posting sites and use local newspapers to follow purchasing activity. This approach is cheap but breaks down if you are attempting to cover more than, say, ten agencies with Web sites.
Fedmarket.com offers two subscription bid services that you may find helpful:
Fedmarket.com also offers CD-Roms of Federal, State, and Local Purchasing Agency Web site addresses for those companies electing to bookmark bid posting sites.
Our own competitors in this area include Bidnet, and Bidline. Try us, try others and see where you're getting the best coverage. Use one or more that provide you the best coverage for your target agencies.
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FedBuying Intelligence is the most powerful sales tool in the federal market. It searches five years of public bid data and tells you “who bought what”. Enter your product/service using keywords, Product/Service Codes, or NAICS Codes and find the solicitations and awards for the Contracting Officers and Contract Specialists who bought your product/service. Contact data including telephone number and email address is provided for each buyer in a downloadable spreadsheet. Details
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