Federal Compass - Waypoints

As the largest procurer of goods and services in the world, the United States Federal Government opts to outsource its needs rather than satisfy them internally. Why? Because of the unique and technical specifications, they require in order to accomplish their missions. With the government turning to federal contractors to satisfy their needs, they require anyone who does business with them to abide by their strict guidelines and regulations. If you have ever seen the movie War Dogs, this is why guidelines exist and compliance matters.

With each new year comes new opportunities and new goals. Some goals are more short-term and can be achieved throughout the year. Others require smaller milestones to be hit throughout the year in order to reach your much larger ones. If you are still in the process of laying out your goals for 2023, the important thing to keep in mind is to be realistic. If your current federal revenue is $90M but you want to hit $210M, is that a realistic number or not?

 

 When companies plan out their year, one element that they often overlook is their internal processes. It is so easy to continue on with normal operations because they worked well enough to grow the business, so why not keep them going, right? The old, "if it ain't broke why fix it" method can only work for so long. "We grew revenue by 4% last year, we should see another year of 4% next year." But why? Why not make some minor adjustments to increase that 4% to 6%? Why not increase growth AND revenue?

 

Maybe this is the year to enhance some existing processes to hit all of your goals and check off smaller milestones to help get you to where you want to be in five, 10, or 15 years.

Networking and teaming are essential in government contracting. You know this. But still, most contractors view these elements as a way to satisfy short-term needs, not as part of their long-term strategy. It is not that they burn bridges or treat their partners poorly. It is that they often get what they need and then move on to the next, and the next, and so on and so forth. Only to come back when that company's services are needed again. If teaming and networking in GovCon were viewed through a wider aperture, it would allow you to consider each potential partner across your entire pipeline to determine where they provide the best value. This can help create a highly productive and valuable relationship for all parties that can be used well into the future.

Before adding a new piece to your tech stack, where do your current needs lie? There are free tools, paid tools, and other expensive alternatives available. So where do you turn and how do you identify which problem you need to solve? You can get feedback from friends or other businesses, but more likely than not, your needs are slightly different than theirs. Meaning, they chose a solution that fills their gaps and it may not necessarily do the same for you.

 

For federal contractors, there is often one core element that is sought after. What helps us win more federal revenue?  Sound familiar?

 

In what seems like a neverending list of options, how do you know what will work best for YOU to increase your federal revenue?

Once a contract has been awarded, what happens next? It might seem like an easy answer: complete the work and get paid! Although that might be correct to a certain extent, there is a lot more that needs to be accounted for and it all starts with having a strong capture process. From the very beginning, your legal team needs to get involved, your contract manager(s) will need to step up, and your capture management process should have decision gates and ways to measure success. You mean government contracting is not as easy as people make it out to be?!

In today's technology-dependent world, there should never be a time when you say that you cannot do something because your software lacks functionality. Let us be real, we can order a pack of cookies, hand towels, and "try on" a pair of sunglasses without leaving the comfort of our couch. There are some very powerful software solutions out there, and when it comes to looking for a new one, you should have a list of criteria that needs to be met. If you are settling for less, you could be setting your team up for failure.

Change, to some degree, is something we all struggle with. Whether it is changing our hairstyle or adopting new software, there will always be some apprehensions to change. One of the first elements that come to mind when thinking about change is "why". Why would I change? Why do I need to change? Why does our company need to make this change? Why can we not just keep the same process, it is working fine.

The overall value of a federal contractor's pipeline is not based on quantity, it is quality. This sounds super simple and like it would be a no-brainer, but you have probably fallen victim to the "win anything" mentality more times than you would like to admit. High-dollar opportunities help drive revenue, but when revenue is sacrificed for company identity, it creates chaos in the pipeline and pushes companies into an environment that is difficult to change.

In today’s fast-paced world, something that we often do not take the time to do is look at ourselves in the mirror. Taking a moment to reflect on who we are, what we are looking for in life, and where those few gray hairs could have come from often gets lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately, the same can be said about federal contractors. Finding opportunities, submitting RFPs, analyzing data, talking with teaming partners, working to grow the business itself, there are a ton of moving pieces and taking the time to reflect often gets overlooked. Taking the time to discuss and reflect on the past can say a lot about where the company is heading. When overlooked, the future trajectory may look much different than it did several years prior.

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.