Federal Compass - Waypoints

Complex, intimidating, and overwhelming are the three most common words used when describing federal contracting. Federal contracting is a great opportunity for businesses interested in winning billions of dollars that are set aside for contractors. Especially for small businesses, women-owned, service-disabled veterans, minority-owned, and historically underutilized business zones. With nearly infinite possibilities for revenue, far too many contractors overlook the one crucial element critical to their success. Self-evaluation.

The United States Federal Government is the largest employer in the world. However, with nearly 3 million employees, they lack the necessary resources and expertise to satisfy their needs across different departments. To accomplish their needs for products, services, knowledge, parts, and the like, they release federal procurements for registered federal contractors to bid on.

How does the government keep getting it so wrong? The pause on Polaris marks the second speed bump for a GWAC. Previously, the CIO-SP4 RFP presented a puzzle that made the Rubix cube seem simple. For any small business capable of navigating the labyrinth of process and layers of scoring, they came out on the other frustrated with an unbalanced approach NITAAC used that placed small businesses at a disadvantage. Not to be outdone, GSA advertised a wildly adventurous process for the looming BIC MAC competition and followed that up with an RFP that basically turned Polaris into Alliant 2, part 2.

The GSA didn’t merely give an advantage to JVs, they offered up the entire program to every Alliant 2 prime and large federal contractor who missed out on a seat. Had the competition gone through, small businesses who have played proxy for larger contractors, while actual small contractors would have struggled to score well or have any real chance to compete with larger ones, parading around as helpful mentors.

In an effort to procure IT products and services in a more efficient manner, the Federal government created Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC). GWACs are administered and managed by the General Services Administration (GSA), National Institutes of Health, and NASA, in an effort to reduce friction and delays when federal departments look to acquire technology-related goods and services.

In a market that is more complex and competitive than ever, is your market intelligence ready for the challenge? Move beyond reacting to the market and get the insights you need to put yourself in the right direction. Federal Compass does just that.

Utilizing teaming partners is wildly popular among federal contractors, but are often used reactively, not proactively. Teaming partners are more than just a one-time use that can be circled back to at a later time when it’s convenient. Teaming partners should be viewed as long-term relationships, not speed dating.

Federal market intelligence that is in-depth and robust provides federal contractors with a significant edge over their competitors. Being able to understand and qualify an opportunity before the submission process ever begins helps increase your probability win and reduce costs since you won't be chasing opportunities that you never had a chance at winning. The federal contracting market is going through a maturing process and there is an emphasis on using more robust tools and processes to win more federal dollars.

As we draw closer to a likely impasse, a government shutdown looms as a certainty. While the length of the shutdown is anyone’s guess, the temperature of the situation points to protracted shutdown with the potential of a temporary stopgap that would only delay the shutdown by a few months. The threat of the government shutdown comes on the heels of 2020, where the market experienced an unprecedented disruption due to COVD-19.

Alternative to popular belief, federal contracting opportunities are NOT the most important element when federal contractors measure success. It's a culmination of things- opportunities, market intelligence, pipeline management, company initiatives, competitor analysis. While all carry their own weight, one element that should weigh heavier than others is your pipeline. Your pipeline management process and the quality of what's coming into your pipeline. After all, nobody is under more scrutiny when a pipeline is mismanaged than the business development team.

In a federal contracting market that is so driven by finding opportunities, taking the time to identify its win probability is far too often an afterthought. Being able to provide your company with an accurate assessment of its ability to win a particular opportunity is crucial. If the information provided to team members is inaccurate or wrong, that is a costly mistake for your company and potentially, your career.