Business Development

Business Development Newsletter Series

  • Current Bid Opportunities: All Federal Agencies

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  • Small Businesses: Rags to Riches with Federal Contracts

    This article assumes that you are new to the federal market, do not have federal relationships, and do not have an experienced federal sales and proposal writing staff. The federal market is huge ($ 500 billion), includes every service known to man,... read more

  • Danger, Will Robinson

    Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts generally run for terms from 3 to 10 years although recent research done at FedBizOpps indicates that 5 and 10 year periods of performance are becoming much more common. For the most... read more

  • Realities of Government Contracting

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  • Sell It Then Worry About Capturing It

    "Capture Planning" in the federal market usually involves opportunity identification, plan how to "capture" the opportunity, and write the proposal in response to the solicitation. Specific responsibilities of a capture planner usually... read more

  • Federal Sales Plan Development Guide

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  • Mysterious Federal Contracting Process in a Nutshell

    The federal purchasing process often does not reflect what is really going on concerning the amount of competition for a bidding opportunity because of the need to show the public the perception of competition for taxpayer contracting dollars; why?... read more

  • Top Down Market Indicators

    Federal market statistics are notoriously confusing, incomplete, and difficult to find and analyze. GSA schedules are the biggest and widest multiple award contracts. GSA schedule sales are reasonably accurate; around $ 40 billion annually for all... read more

  • Boost Your Revenue with Federal Contracts

    The Washington DC media focuses on the flat federal market and has little to say about the up sides of the market. The market is still over $ 500 billion annually and that's because the huge bureaucracy (thousands of facilities and millions of people)... read more

  • New to the Federal Marketplace: Start Small and Grow from Within

    Newcomers should use any means they can to land a small deal to get their hooks into the market. That could include cold-calling (ugh), pitching to anyone you know in the federal government or anyone who likes you and knows someone in the government,... read more

  • The 50 Shades of Gray of Government Contracting

    50 shades of gray exist in all walks of life, including government contracts. Newcomers to the federal market are often perplexed when they cannot get clear-cut answers to the following questions. Some of the questions may have answers but the... read more

  • Companies with Multiple Awards Contracts Increase Their Chances of Being Acquired

    Previous newsletters and our seminars stress the increasing predominance of multiple award contracts (MACs) in government contracting. GSA Schedules are the biggest of the MACs and the 41 or so Schedule contracts are continuously open for bid.... read more

  • IDIQ Contracts: A Hunting License for the Federal Market

    Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts are becoming the preferred way that federal buyers make purchases. In order to compete in either the federal product or service sectors, your firm must have an IDIQ. As the use of IDIQs... read more

  • Know the Customer

    There's an age-old axiom followed by federal contracting experts:  If you don't know the customer, don't bid on the job.  It's so simplistic, yet so true. Experienced contractors know and follow this basic premise and inexperienced... read more

  • The IDIQ Smorgasbord

    Let's look at a typical IDIQ scenario: A large IDIQ contract opportunity (sometimes worth several billion dollars) is posted at FedBizOpps. After the evaluation of proposals, a number of "pricing only" awards are announced to between three to one... read more

  • Sources Sought Announcements Are Requesting GSA Schedule Information

    As one would expect, Fedmarket constantly monitors federal bid announcements including those pertaining to sources sought or requests for information.  It has become increasingly clear that contracting officials are more frequently looking for... read more

  • Recent Trends Discovered While Surfing FedBizOpps

    In contrast to how things were handled in the past, recent publicly-announced bids found at FedBizOpps are either specifically stating that GSA schedule pricing is "preferred" or that only GSA Schedule holders will be considered. ... read more

  • Strange but Real IDIQ Purchases

    The following are Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) solicitations for items that might not be normally considered items that would be bought through an IDIQ contract: IDIQ for Quantitative Analysis and Scientific Evaluation of Hawaiian... read more

  • IDIQ Contracts: Purchasing Vehicle of Choice for Facility Contracts

    Just like the federal IT sector, which has been rich with contracting opportunities for interested vendors, Indefinite Delivery/ Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts have been prevalent for facility-related contracts for the last few years. Unlike the IT... read more

  • Small Businesses and Current Trends in Federal Contracting

    The current political environment in both Congress and the Executive Branch appears to be pro small business, at least through the fall election. We base this conclusion on the following factors:  New small business initiatives in the GSA... read more

  • Everyone Comes in First in an IDIQ Award

    Most IDIQ contacts have from 3 to 10 awardees; some of the information technology super IDIQs can have as many as 70 or 80. GSA Schedules have thousands of contract holders.  All finish first when IDIQ contract award... read more

  • Narrowing the IDIQ Field

    Why not try to win many IDIQs? Well, winning an IDIQ is not only expensive but, more importantly; with too many you are in danger of losing focus. And focused sales efforts are critical to keep sales costs within reason. Equally important, you do not... read more

  • The IDIQ Market

    The federal market is always changing and IDIQs are no exception. Major shifts in the market include: using of large umbrella contracts (IDIQs) to purchase goods and services that could be competed individually(this is known as bundling) justifying... read more

  • Learning the Lingo: Vehicle

    A contracting vehicle or just vehicle as its known in the DC corridors of power is not something you ride in. It's a method of awarding a contract within the federal purchasing rules. The term has almost become synonymous with IDIQ contract, but not... read more

  • Selling Before the Public Bid

    Most public bids have been pre-sold by vendors to varying degrees and often several pre-sellers will be the only companies that really have a chance of winning. Experienced contractors also know that bidding opportunities for a reoccurring contract are... read more

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