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GSA Schedules

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  • GSA the World's Biggest Customer
    The most confusing aspect of a GSA proposal is the requirement to disclose your discounting practices. GSA uses the disclosures to negotiate a discount equal to or better than the best discount you have extended to your commercial customers...
  • Women Owned Small Businesses May Be in for a Treat
    Women Owned Small Businesses (WOSB) may get an advantage in federal contracting under a newly proposed Women-Owned Small- Business rule...
  • 2010 Federal Procurements Are Bigger Yet
    Is the Obama Administration cutting back on federal contracting? Let's look at the top 20 federal procurements planned for 2010...
  • Obama and Federal Sales
    Your crystal ball is as good as mine. Mine says the following will happen to federal contracting under the new Obama administration. War spending will go down, slightly impacting DOD contractors negatively...
  • Importance of Direct Sales
    Many companies looking to win federal contracts spend large portions of their annual budgets on marketing, business development, and capture planning...
  • Competitiveness of Multi-vendor Contracts
    Multi-vendor contracts limit competition and make purchasing faster and cheaper. The government, when using a multi-vendor contract, need only solicit bids from three vendors holding the type of contract in question...
  • Popular Types of Multiple-vendor Contracts
    The federal government could not function without multi-vendor contracts and more and more dollars are being awarded under this type of contract each year. There are many types of multi-vendor contracts. The two most popular are summarized below...
  • Federal Sales and Self Interest, the Small Business Specialist (Advocate)
    The previous installment discussed the motivation of contracting officers in the federal purchasing process. This installment looks at the motivation of small business specialists (advocates)...
  • Go After Small Opportunities in Your Locale
    Small businesses do reasonably well within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area because of the vast amounts of contract dollars set aside for the region. However, the abundance of contract opportunities is offset by the level of competition...
  • Can Others Help You Win Contracts?
    Winning federal contracts is an expensive and arduous process. It helps if you can find someone to pave the way. The best candidate would be someone, such as a business partner or personal friend, who has a federal customer...
  • How to Close a Federal Sale
    Making sales in the commercial sector can be difficult but closing a sale usually isn't...
  • The Democratic Victory and Federal Contracting
    It goes without saying that the results of the November election will change federal contracting. The pundits are currently taking a stab at predicting how the game will change...
  • Small Businesses and the Federal Market
    Knowing your customers is the key to sales success. This is true whether you're selling to public or private organizations...
  • Insights on Closing a Federal Sales
    The commercial and federal markets are basically identical in that you have to make one-on-one sales calls to end users in order to sell your product or service...
  • Entering the Federal Market
    You are a small to medium sized business located outside the Washington, DC area and you have decided that you want to enter the federal market. What should you do? 1...
  • Multiple Award Contracts: The Wave of the Future
    Multiple Award Contracts (MACs) have the following characteristics. Awards are made to a number of vendors and the winning vendors compete among themselves for business...
  • Keys to Success in Federal Sales
    Attendees at our federal sales seminars frequently ask us to summarize the keys to success in federal sales. Successful federal contractors all possess the following traits: * A willingness to invest in direct sales (i.e...
  • The Customer is the Key to Winning Proposals
    Most successful federal contractors understand relationship sales and sell the customer before writing customer driven, defensive proposals. Yet we hear over and over: "we are new and they won't meet with us"...
  • Proposal Writing Is Not Going to Go Away
    Most owners of small and medium-sized federal contracting companies wish that writing proposals was not a requirement of doing business with the federal government...
  • How Evaluators Judge a Proposal
    You have been writing proposals for some time. You have become a pro on piecing responses together, writing, reviewing, booking, and delivering them...
  • Don't Get Stuck as a Subcontractor
    Small businesses need to get their first federal contract to become part of the club of insiders - those companies with contracts - that the federal government favors when it buys products and services...
  • Get a GSA Schedule Contract or Stay Away
    In our previous installments, we have repeatedly stated that small- to medium- sized businesses must have a GSA Schedule (pre-approved price list) to sell in the federal market...
  • GSA Schedules and Small Businesses
    As reported in earlier installments, the federal government's use of multi-vendor contracts to buy products and services is steadily increasing...
  • Why Are GSA Schedule Offers So Difficult to Write?
    In previous installments, we have emphasized that GSA Schedule contracts are the closing vehicle of choice for small to medium-sized businesses...
  • GSA Schedule Buying Scenario
    Let's assume that your company is an information technology service business that has sold a web site development project to an end user at a military base in your area...
  • GSA: The Rules Governing GSA Schedules
    The rules governing GSA Schedules are set out in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 8.4. Hopefully, this newsletter will keep you from having to read Subpart 8.4...
  • New Women Owned-Small Business Posts $2.5 Million!
    United MedEvac Solutions, Inc., (UMS), was formed in April 2005 as a Women-Owned Small Business by Danielle "DeDe" Wilson (President) and Larry W. Case (Vice President) as a result of an immediate need for Ft. Hood's on base air medical coverage...
  • GSA VETS GWAC To Open Opportunities For Service-Disabled Veteran Businesses
    Note from the Author, Eileen Kent: In past "On the Sales Firing Line" articles, Fedmarket.com revealed that veteran groups have been asking for more contracting dollars since DOD has awarded $514 million a year, or only 0...
  • Firing Line Success Story
    Small 8(a) Security Personnel Agency Learns the Contracting Game and Wins $1...
  • Call Your Area Military Base and Get a Tour
    When I was sixteen years old, I remember driving to Selfridge Air Force Base outside of Detroit to go pick up some groceries for the family...
  • The Government Buys Everything
    It is now August 2005 and the federal government will be closing its accounting books in September 2005. Your business contacts are just finding out now how much money they have to "use or lose...
  • Four Cold Calling Tactics
    Many readers of "On the Firing Line" have asked about my thoughts on whether it is possible, in the post-September 11th world, to make personal cold calls on federal buyers...
  • Reality Check - Are You Embedded? Are You Sure?
    Sometimes you need to take a good look at your current and potential clients and ask yourself, "Am I really going to be the first person they will call when they need my product or service every time?"If your gut isn't sure of this answer, you need ...
  • Do You Want To Win Government Business? Do Not Respond to "Public Request for Proposals"
    When I started selling to the government, I thought it made sense to see where all of the opportunities were being posted. I found a great spot online: Fedbizopps.gov. I could simply search by word, agency, procurement type, dollar amount, location...
  • Getting Embedded in Government Sales Circle
    One of the keys to success in the government is to develop a strong relationship at an agency. My contention is to take it another step: you need to become not just an insider, but embedded...
  • OMB reports over use of "Name Brands" in Specifications
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reports over use of "Name Brands" in Specifications from the Sales Firing Line, Eileen Kent Says, "Surprise, Surprise!"Challenge to Government Contracting Officers: "Don't Use Name Brands in RFPs" A memo was sen...
  • Top Ten Mistakes, Relationship Killers and Wastes of Time
    Should your company try one of the approaches outlined below while trying to do business with the government, you will end up at a dead end and will have a seriously demoralized federal sales team. My Top Ten List of Mistakes is as follows: 1...
  • Small Business Goals Missed
    In an article published in Federal Computer Week, October, 2005, Michael Hardy reports that a report card was released showing federal agencies missed their goals for small-business contracts...
  • If You Think There's Red Tape, Check Out What Leaders in the Military Think
    A recent October 19, 2005 article, written by Frank Tiboni and published in FCW.com, entitled "DOD Acquisition Under Fire," reports that numerous leaders in the military have called for change and innovation to fix a growing problem...
  • Disaster Response and Recovery: Is There an Opportunity for You to Help?
    While the politicians and department directors argue over what went wrong during the Katrina disaster, savvy contractors are becoming more and more embedded in the agencies...
  • In Government Sales, Don't Believe Everything You're Told or You'll Lose
    The government is made up of influential people - - some of whom make million dollar decisions every day. However, the active word here is that they're "people...
  • Interviewing Your Potential Federal Client is Much Easier Than Selling to Your Client
    Sales executives tend to rush into the offices of federal end users and contracting officers and start performing the dog and pony show...
  • State and Local Governments Have Their Rules Too!
    Although Fedmarket's installments and newsletters tend to focus on the federal government, I would like to take the time to address state and local government business. Many companies have approached me with questions about this marketplace...
  • Remember Two Simple Concepts and You'll Win Federal Business
    1. Follow the Rules The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) is the purchasing bible for federal contracting officers and all buying agencies. The rules are very specific about purchasing thresholds and the procedures to be followed...
  • Selling IT: Marketing IT to the Government
    In this article, we define marketing as activities to make the public, official buyers and end-users aware of your company and your products or services...
  • The Realities of the Federal Market
    Let’s say you’re a medium-sized information technology company from a Midwestern city and your commercial sales are flat...
  • Commitment and Focus in Federal Contracting
    In the last installment you learned about some of the realities of federal sales. In this installment you will learn about the need for commitment and focus to overcome the inherent barriers to entry. First, you must commitment to the market...
  • Modify Your Business Development Strategy as Your Company Grows
    Business development is a difficult task for companies new to the federal market. This is particularly true for a company with no federal experience or contacts...
  • Using the GSA Schedule Program to Develop Your Multiple
    A frequent reader of our installment series has no doubt surmised that we highly recommend getting on the GSA schedule as a potentially lucrative sales vehicle...
  • The Reality of Direct Sales to Government
    In our monthly federal sales seminars, some attendees openly rebel against the suggestion that they should be making direct sales calls. Those disbelievers say to the speaker, "there must be a better way...
  • Entry by Small Businesses into the Federal Market
    Small businesses often have a limited sales budget. For those located outside the Washington metropolitan area, selling inside the Beltway is too expensive and the competition too intense -- even if the sales dollars are available...
  • Proposed Small Business Rule Changes
    Small businesses are being squeezed out of the federal market due to contract bundling and an ever-increasing interest on the part of large businesses to enter into the market...
  • Government Contract Vehicles
    A "contract vehicle" is a broad term meaning different things to different people. We define the term in its broadest sense -it is a method under which a company may pursue and close a sale...
  • Yet Another Contracting Vehicle
    In a previous installment, we discussed the wide range of contracting vehicles used to close federal sales. We define the term in its broadest sense; a contract vehicle is a method under which a company may pursue and close a sale...
  • Focus and Commitment Necessary in Doing Business with Government
    Throughout the series we've talked here and there about "focus" and "commitment", a couple of words that are easy to toss around: "You've got to be focused." "You must be committed...
  • Publicly-Advertised Negotiated Procurements
    The publicly-advertised negotiated procurement market segment is a new world for companies that have not bid on negotiated procurements using requests for proposal (RFP) procedures. Responding to RFPs is unique for several reasons...
  • Debriefings and Protests in Governement Proposals
    In this installment we discuss the rules regarding debriefings and protests using the federal acquisition regulations as a model...
  • Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Government Contracts
    Overview of the Process The General Service Administration's Federal Supply Service (FSS) operates the federal supply schedule program. The program leverages the purchasing power of the U.S...
  • Teaming for Large Government Contracts
    Government contracts are getting bigger. Requirements that were once performed under, say, six to ten contracts might now be performed under only one...
  • Overall Government Contract Evaluation Process - Past Performances
    In selecting winning vendors, federal, state, and local governments have typically looked at past contract performance information as part of their overall evaluation processes...
  • Women-Owned Business Contracting
    Congress has established a 5-percent government-wide goal for awards to women-owned small businesses (WOSBs). Yet year after year, federal agencies fail to meet this goal. In fact, in 2001, the government awarded just 2...
  • Minority-Owned Business Contracting
    In the prior installment, we talked about women-owned business contracting. This week, we discuss the 8(a) Business Development Program and the Small Disadvantaged Business Certification (SDB) Program...
  • Federal Acquisition of Foreign Supplies and Services
    Throughout this installment series we've tried to unravel some of the tangled rules and conventions of government contracting. There is perhaps no topic, however, that is a better candidate for unraveling than today's...
  • Other Government Transactions
    When people speak of "government contracting" or "doing business with government," there is the tendency (and we’re as guilty of this as anyone) to equate such terms with "government procurement," as if they’re all one and the same...
  • Contract Bundling
    The number of bundled contracts awarded by federal agencies has reached a 10-year high, hurting small businesses, according to a recent report by the Small Business Administration (SBA)...
  • Update on Contract Bundling
    Recently, the Bush administration released new reporting requirements and proposed regulatory changes designed to curb the practice of bundling...
  • Procurement Changes Related to Homeland Security
    We just wanted to bring you up-to-date on some recent and important changes in federal procurement law, changes that may directly affect your business...
  • Letters of Supply and Commercial Sales Practice
    For a variety of reasons, product vendors may choose to become suppliers to another company that holds a GSA Schedule contract...
  • Countering the "World's Biggest Customer" Argument
    The problem most companies face when trying to argue that GSA's prices should be higher than your Most Favored Customer is that GSA will almost always say: "We are the world's biggest customer, and we should have better than your best price even if ...
  • GSA Schedule Compliance: Small Biz and the GSA
    Why not encourage and support small business participation in GSA Schedule contracting by loosening the experience and number-of-years-in-business requirements somewhat? Why not have 100,000 GSA Schedule holders rather than fewer than 20,000? Why no...
  • Feeling Restricted by the Number of Labor Categories That GSA will Award?
    Small companies are often handcuffed by GSA's requirement that a labor category cannot be offered to GSA until such time as it has been sold and you have an invoice to document the sale...
  • Does the "M" in the new 8(M) Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program Mean Money?
    Answer: Yes and then some...
  • The Next Two Years in Federal Contracting
    The Next Two Years in Federal Contracting: Some Uncertainties and Business as Usual The next two years in federal contracting will be uncertain in the information technology and defense system sectors and business as usual in others...
  • GSA Schedules: The Grandfather of IDIQ Contracts
    This newsletter is the fourth in a series of five newsletters about the federal government's increasing reliance on multiple award contracts...
  • Advanced Proposal Writing: Wisely Choosing Which Opportunities
    Making poor choices about which RFPs to respond to is the number one mistake small businesses make in the federal contracting arena...
  • Advanced Proposal Writing: Key Elements When Writing About Your Program Management
    For Small Businesses: Key Elements When Writing About Your Program Management Last week, we noted that the new strategy of federal agencies is to mandate that small businesses band together under a single lead small business and take on larger, more soph...
  • GSA Schedule Changes May Significantly Increase Small Business Contracting
    The federal government has not met its stated goal to send 23% of all federal contracting dollars to small businesses. The shortfall represents around $5 - $6 billion annually...
  • Rebuttal: Are Small Business Advocates Helpful?
    In a previous newsletter, we questioned the usefulness of federal small business advocates.  We received the following response from a reader which illustrates why companies must perform aggressive, direct federal sales in-house...
  • Multi Vendor Contracts: Becoming the Rule
    In previous newsletters, we described how multi-vendor contracts (IDIQ contracts) are becoming the rule rather than the exception in federal contracting...
  • The Trend Towards Multiple Award Contracting Escalates
    The multiple award contract is becoming a way of life in the federal government. Many large, federal multiple award contracts have been awarded this year; several of them carrying ceilings of more than $1 billion...
  • Selling in the Federal Marketplace
    Up until the actual close of a sale, selling in the federal market is essentially the same as selling in the commercial market...
  • Which Flavors of IDIQs Should Our Company Seek?
    The federal government doesn't actually know the number of active IDIQs but rough estimates are that the number exceeds 2,000 and is increasing at an annual rate of approximately 30%...