Vince Lombardi on Federal Government Awards

"Winning [federal government contracts] is not a sometime thing: it's an all the time thing. You don't win [federal government contracts] once in a while; you don't do the right things once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning [federal government contracts] is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing."

-- Vince Lombardi

The Ovid Group couldn't agree more.

Do You Know Who Your Federal Market Place Competitors Are?

For the past two (2) years, I have been from sea to shining sea coaching, counseling, and consulting CEOs and other upper level management executives on how to sell to the federal government. And regardless of the size of the company or their industry, here is a question that the executives of most would-be and want-more federal government contractors cannot answer:

Do you know who your real federal government market place competitors are?

Here's another question that most, again, cannot answer:

Do you know where to go or how to find out who these competitors are?

How The Federal Government Buys

The government purchases goods and services through standardized procedures outlined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) [www.arnet.gov/far]. Used by all federal agencies, the FAR provides procedures for the complete procurement process from the time a need for a product or service is discovered until the time the purchase is completed.

The government can use a variety of contracting methods when it desires to purchase a certain product or service. The four (4) principal methods used include simplified acquisition procedures, sealed bidding, contracting by negotiation, and consolidated purchasing vehicles.

Winning Federal Government Contracts: It All Starts With The Opportunity

Chapter One: Winning Federal Government Contracts

In the beginning there is the opportunity.

Now, there are two (2) types of opportunities: those created and those identified.

The company that CREATES an opportunity networks, markets, and sells themselves for months if not years in advance. Such efforts give them substantial advantages because they will have had the opportunity to help the buying agency determine their needs, launch the acquisition, define the requirements, and perhaps even submitted a rough draft of the Statement of Work (SOW).

To keep this substantial edge, such a company needs to know not only the names of every company that would complete against it, but everything possible about these companies.

The company that IDENTIFIES an opportunity has arrived late in the scene. And if they are truly out to win, they need to work not only hard, but smart to catch up. They must face the fact that another company did the networking, marketing, and selling that they themselves should have been engaged in and they must chisel in stone a note to not to let this happen again.

In order to win, such a company has to know (i) the name of the company already on the scene, (ii) all they can about them, (iii) what other companies will likely show up to compete, and (iv) all you can know about them as well.

There is precedence for this:

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle." - Sun Tze, The Art of War, 400 BC.

FAR Clauses All GSA Contract Holders Should Know

GSA Schedule contracts are supercharged by rules and regulations that make them powerfully advantageous to contract holders because these rules and regulations dictate that they face limited -- very limited -- competition.

FAR 6.102(d)(3) Text [partial]:

Use of ... the multiple award schedule program of the General Services Administration is a competitive procedure. (full text)

FAR 8.404(a) Text [partial]:

...when ... placing orders under Federal Supply Schedule contracts using the procedures of 8.405, ordering activities shall not seek competition outside of the Federal Supply Schedules or synopsize the requirement. (full text)

FAR 8.405-1(c)(1) Text:

Ordering activities shall place orders with the schedule contractor that can provide the supply or service that represents the best value. Before placing an order, an ordering activity shall consider reasonably available information about the supply or service offered under MAS contracts by surveying at least three schedule contractors through the GSA Advantage! on-line shopping service, or by reviewing the catalogs or pricelists of at least three schedule contractors.

In plain English, these clauses eliminate the need for full and open competition. Now, which business is it that wouldn't like to eliminate competition? Well, perhaps all those companies without GSA contracts. Consider the fact that less than one percent (1%) of all the businesses in the United States of America have a GSA Schedule Contract.

What is a Multiple Awards Schedule?

A Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) is a list of contracts that the government has established with more than one (1) commercial company for the same types of products and services. Orders placed against a Multiple Award Schedule are by regulation considered to be issued using full and open competition.

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Next Up:
Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clauses All GSA Contract Holders Should Know

What is a Government-Wide Acquisition Contract?

A Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) is a multiple-award, multi-agency contract issued by one agency and used by other agencies for the for the purchase of goods and services. The goverment loves GWAC contracts because they are faster, cheaper, and just more convenient than having each contracting organization issue its own contract.

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Next Up:
What is a Multiple Awards Schedule?

What is an Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity Contract?

Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (ID/IQ) contracts are the types of contracts federal government agencies use when they know what it is that they want to purchase but don't know when they want them delivered or the quantities they will need. In an ID/IQ contact, the delivery of products or performance of services occurs when a contracting officer completes an individual purchase, task or delivery order with the contractor.

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Next Up:
What is a Government-Wide Acquisition Contract?

What is the Federal Acquisition Service?

The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) was created by consolidating the Federal Technology Service (FTS) and the Federal Supply Service (FSS).

The most significant outcome of this reorganization is a new GSA Service, the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). FAS is the consolidation of GSA’s Federal Technology Service (FTS) and Federal Supply Service (FSS). Many factors led to this reorganization, including shifting customer needs, an evolution in how agencies acquire technology products and services, and a greater emphasis on GSA’s role in federal procurement.

Probably most familiar to regular GSA customers are the Schedules or the Office of General Supplies and Services (GSS) program area, through which the agency’s Acquisition Centers make comprehensive offerings of a wide range of general products and related services available to government agencies and employees. In the GSS Portfolio, product offerings include furniture, office supplies, and (non-computer) hardware. Service offerings include supply chain and distribution services, energy and environmental services, language services, administrative services, (non-computer) hardware services, and facilities maintenance.

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Next Up:
What is an Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity Contract?

What is the General Services Administration?

The General Services Administration (GSA) is a major purchasing agent for the federal government that was founded in 1947 by Harry S. Truman to handle surplus commodities from World War 2. Through the years, the GSA has evolved its business model to one that negotiates long-term contracts with qualified companies that can supply the technology, commodities, services, vehicles, and buildings the government needs to perform its day-to-day operations.

Today, the GSA consists of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), the Public Buildings Service (PBS), and various Staff Offices, including the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA). Eleven Regional Offices extend GSA’s outreach to federal customers nationwide.

GSA Regional Offices are located in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Fort Worth, Denver, San Francisco, Auburn (Washington), and Washington, DC.

Approximately 12,000 GSA employees provide valuable support to other federal agencies and, in some cases, the general public. GSA is the government’s “landlord,” meeting the office and other space requirements of the federal workforce. GSA is also the premier federal acquisition and procurement force offering equipment, supplies, telecommunications, and integrated information technology solutions to customer agencies. GSA also plays a key role in developing and implementing policies that affect many government agencies and helps other federal agencies improve their service to and communication with the public by offering effective citizen-response tools and services.

GSA acts as a catalyst for nearly $66 billion in federal spending, which is more than one-fourth of the government's total procurement dollars. The agency also influences the management of federal assets valued at nearly $500 billion. These assets include more than 8,300 government-owned or leased buildings, an interagency fleet of 170,000 vehicles, and technology programs and products ranging from laptop computers to systems that cost over $100 million.

Although GSA leverages billions of dollars in the marketplace, only one percent (1%) of the agency's total budget is provided through direct congressional appropriations. The majority of GSA's operating costs must be recovered through the products and services it provides.

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Next Up:
What is the Federal Acquisition Service?

What Is a GSA Contract?

A General Services Administration (GSA) contract is a long-term governmentwide contract between the GSA and a commercial supplier. These contracts, known as GSA Schedules, allow federal agencies and their employees to quickly and easily acquire a vast array of products and services directly from commercial suppliers. The proper name for a GSA contract is a General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Service (FSS) Schedule Contract.

Specifically, a GSA contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ), Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), Multiple Awards Schedule (MAS) contract that starts with a single five (5) year contract period that is followed by three (3) five- (5) year renewal options.

A GSA contract is often the perfect place to for a company to start doing business with the federal government, because it can -- if used properly and proactively -- dramatically increase a company's revenue, immediately improve efficiency and effectiveness, and substantially reduce costs when it comes to marketing and selling to the world's largest buyer of goods and services. As such, it is an excellent addition to any company’s portfolio and/or exit strategy.

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Next Up:
What is the General Services Administration?

Would-Be Government Contractors - Look at Yourself

A would-be government contractor wants to market to the federal government -- the world's largest purchaser of products and services, what could be and really should become this contractor's biggest customer -- with marketing materials that have a less than first rate look and don't convey the information the government is seeking.

Not a good look.

Remember, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.

Books: Some Old Business Classics

Some old business classics....

"The Art of War," Sun Tzu, 6th century BC.

"The Prince," Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513.

"The Book of Five Rings," Miyamoto Musashi, circa 1645.

"On War," Carl von Clausewitz, 1831.

"Genghis Khan: The Emperor of All Men," Harold Lamb, 1927.

Questions to Get Ahead in the Federal Market Place

Companies seeking to initiate or increase government sales will always benefit from asking and answering these basic market place awareness questions before they start the marketing or selling process.

1. Does the government buy what we sell? (The answer will always be yes, by the way.)

2. Which exact agency (or agencies) within the government buy what we sell?

3. What office in this agency or these agencies does the actual buying?

4. Who in this buying or contracting office does the actual buying?

5. How much do they buy?

6. From what companies do they already buy?

7. How much do they buy from these companies?

With answers to these questions, a company will be unstoppable in the federal market place.

FBO.gov Search Trick - Geographic Searches

Need to limit your Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps/FBO) searches to a specific geographic region?

Here's a time-saving trick.

Go straight to FBO's "Find Business Opportunities" page:
http://vsearch1.fbo.gov/servlet/SearchServlet.

Scroll down to the "Search by Place of Performance Zip Code" box.

Decide how wide or how narrow a region to search.

If you want to search a wide area, use the first digit of the zip code of that area and an asterisk. For example, 9*.

If your search is a bit more narrow, use the first two digits of the zip code of that area and an asterisk. For example, 90*.

To get even more specific, use the first three digits of the zip code of that area. For example, 902*.

Ah, again, the power of the asterisk.

Note: Federal Business Opportunities is also known as FedBizOpps or FBO and can be found at www.fbo.gov.

DefenseLink.mil - A Bevy of Subcontracting Opportunities

Every small business needs more subcontracting opportunities and potential relationships. Well, DefenseLink [http://www.defenselink.mil] offers an invaluable resource for all small businesses, one so important and valuable that it should be examined daily.

Each business day at 5pm, the Department of Defense (DOD) announces through DefenseLink all contracts valued at $5 million or more.

Contract announcements issued within the past 30 days can be found at this address:
http://www.defenselink.mil/contracts.

Older contract announcements are available in the contract archive at this address:
http://www.defenselink.mil/Contracts/archive.aspx.

Get proactive and make it easy on yourself. Sign up and receive these contract announcements in your inbox daily:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.aspx.

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Question: I have signed up for these daily announcements and many of them look perfect. So what do I do now?
Answer: Remain proactive and get on the phone. But make sure you are prepared for that call because it could just change the life of your business, couldn't it? Yes, yes, it could.

Stay tuned for more on this subject.

10 Federal Market Place Weaknesses To Avoid

One of the keys to increasing federal government business is a good self-examination. The reason is simple. The business to government market place is very different from business to business market place. As such, when approaching the federal market place, companies need to look at themselves very differently then they do in the commercial market place.

Here are the general weaknesses that we run across everyday with firms either entering the federal market place or trying to increase their market share.

Note that if one (1) or any number of these does not apply to you, think again, because every company, no matter who they are, can do better. And why not try? In the end, it will only lead to more federal government contracts.

1. The company and/or its people don't know what they don't know.

2. The company suffers from a massive exposure problem. More specifically, the government buyer doesn't know the company exists, have an idea about what it does, a way to reach it or even a way to buy from it.

3. The company and its assets are not distinguishable from the rest of the pack.

4. The company does not look like a government contractor. Its web site, marketing, and other collateral materials, though they may be first rate, do not look the way the government is used to seeing them, nor contain the information they need.

5. The company does not think, talk, behave, plan, or take action like a government contractor.

6. The company does not know who its potential customers are.

7. The company does not understand how its products or services are purchased by the government.

8. The company does not know who its real competitors are, let alone studied them.

9. The company does not understand the importance of past performance.

10. The company has not addressed its own weaknesses and learned to capitalize on them.

A Recession Proof Market Place

"Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said today that the economy is likely to slow noticeably in the months ahead." - NY Times, Bernanke Predicts Slower Growth, Edmund L. Andrews, November 8, 2007.

Let's face facts. The U.S. federal government market place is recession proof. The government's budget always grows and its spending on products and services increases year after year after year.

And that is not going to change.

More Telephone Tips for Marketing to the Federal Government

The Conversational Bridge

After a successful greeting, you want the federal government employee to really start talking. This morning's entry will deal with the actual phrasing the conversational bridge that will get the federal government employee with whom you are speaking actually talking.

In yesterday's entry, we discussed the all important greeting; today's entry picks up where yesterday's left off. Remember, federal government employees are pressed for time. Therefore, when the person you have called indicates that now is in fact a good time to talk the second rule of in government business telephone etiquette comes into play.

The second rule in government business telephone etiquette is to deliver a perfectly crafted conversational bridge that will get the listener to open up and give you what you are really after: complete answers. And because complete answers are infinitely better than very good answers let alone just answers, it is worth every pick-and-shovel minute we spend crafting the conversational bridge for maximum impact.

In the end, your conversational bridge will be quick and clear, but it will be delivered in a way conveys without mistake to the listener that it really is in their best interest to provide you with not just an answer, but the most complete answer.

So how is this done? With a scripted question that in no way sounds scripted. A fantastic, cannot miss statement that commands attention and establishes equal business stature.

Start with research. If this is a person you should be calling, find out exactly why. Jot down your answers. Then determine what benefits and advantages you bring TO THEM so that they will give you the most complete answer? What is it that sets you apart from the hordes of others that call and ask for similar information?

Then script it out. For example:

"We are a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business with a GSA contract and extensive past performance with the Departments of Health and Human Services and the Interior. Ms. McFall indicated that you are a regular purchaser of the type of products we sell. I would like to ask you what exactly you look for when selecting vendors, why you would go outside of your current vendors -- as a backup or a replacement, and what exactly I need to do be get on such a list."

This is a power-packed, cannot miss opener. It is loaded. From beginning to end it screams, "Pay attention to me." And from beginning to end it tells the listener exactly why.

Here's how.

First, it tells the buyer that you are a highly sought after socio-economic business classification.

> "We are a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business..."

Second, it tells the buyer that your company's products are pre-approved for purchases and therefore quick and easy to buy.

> "...with a GSA contract..."

Third, it establishes instant credibility with the buyer.

> "...and extensive past performance with the Departments of Health and Human Services and the Interior."

Fourth, it tells the listener that you have started doing your USDA homework and are moving through the USDA's "Doing Business with USDA Kit"

> "Ms. McFall indicated that you are a regular purchaser of the type of products we sell."

Fifth, it conveys to the buyer, in a simple, yet specific question, that you are serious about getting their business, that you talk, think, plan, and act like a potential partner, and most importantly, they should take the time to not only thoroughly answer your three (3) part question, but be prepared for even better questions thereafter.

> "I would like to ask you what exactly you look for when selecting vendors, why you would go outside of your current vendors -- as a backup or a replacement, and what exactly I need to do be get on such a list."

More to come.

Telephone Tips for Marketing to the Federal Government

The All Important Greeting

Whether you are calling a federal agency to gather background information, to start the marketing process, or even to sell your products or services, there are a few simple, yet proven telephone etiquette tips that will help you achieve the goals of your call each and every time. Over the next few days, I will cover these tips. Today's entry will specifically address with the all important greeting.

Let's start with a simple fact that sets a table of understanding. Federal government employees have little time for casual conversation. Therefore, the first rule in government business telephone etiquette is to identify yourself clearly after they pick up the phone and say, “Hello.”

State your full name, your title, the name of your company, and what your company does. Be respectful of their time, position, and power. Tell them how you got their name and telephone number. Tell them straight up that you want to ask them something and then ask if this is a good time to talk. This simple formula will work every time.

"Good morning, ma'am. My name is August West and I am the V.P. of Sales for the XYC Corporation, a company that sells clinical analyzers. Rosalie McFall in the USDA's OSDBU office gave your name and number. She said that if you weren't the person with whom I needed to speak that you would definitely be able to point me in the right direction. Is now a good time to talk?"

Use this simple formula coupled with good manner and a bit of old fashioned charmed and you will get the information or name you need then or there or a date and time to call back.

More to come.