Winning True Preference is the Cornerstone for Winning Government Contracts

Posted on March 15, 2010

In Part 3 of the 7-Part “Seven Steps to Success: Jump Start Government Contracts” Series with Washington-based expert author Judy Bradt a true moment of epiphany occurred about three quarters into the show. Specifically, it was the realization that outside of an instinctual approach by a handful of suppliers, the process for winning government contracts is truly based on the ability of a supplier to legitimately and transparently win preference with government buyers.

This would seem to be an oxymoron, especially to the investigative reporters from the newspaper and television mediums who are forever following-up on purported buyer-supplier malfeasance in the government bid process. The fact is that winning government contracts has more to do with the largely ignored steps 1 through 5 than it does with step 6, which is the actual government solicitation by way of an RFP.

Like the axiom in Sun Tzu’s Art of War which proclaims that “every battle is won or lost before it is fought,” the same is true when pursuing government business.

When your company is scanning the Merx or GSA listings looking for RFP’s to which you might respond, this according to Bradt is the same as showing up at the starting line of a race without having trained for the event. In short, you are not likely going to win or perhaps even finish the race because you will not have done the necessary prep work to run the race both intelligently and effectively. Yet this is an all too common scenario in which the majority of suppliers find themselves.

Besides directing you to tune in to the on-demand version of today’s broadcast, which aired on the Blog Talk Radio Network between 3:00 to 4:00 PM EST through the player below, Judy was kind enough to provide a corresponding program reference with which you can follow our discussion.

Author and Expert Judy Bradt

You can reach Judy directly via her Summit Insight website, as well as a wealth of information that has enabled her to assist more than 6,000 clients to win government contracts in excess of $300 million U.S.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Program Reference Guide

Note: while the following is the expanded version of what was covered during the broadcast, both the show and reference guide are inextricably linked and invaluable in terms of providing much needed insight into the government bid process.

You can’t win the game if you don’t know the rules. And the rules keep changing, so you have to keep up. Procurement rules are not obstacles. They are instruments. Winners play those instruments like a symphony orchestra.

You’re going to have to learn a LOT about the procurement rules and process. But, cheer up: even if you sat down and memorized the regulations, that wouldn’t be enough to ensure a win anyway. In practice, you want to learn the things you need to know just a bit before you really need them…and not be left scrambling when something hits the fan.

So what you’ll get here is a practical introduction to things business owners need to know about the procurement process, some hands-on exercises to start exploring what that means for you, and suggestions for when you’ll need to find out more and where to go to dig deeper.

Some facts for starters:

· Rules let government buyers purchase from vendors they prefer.

· Government buyers have lots of options to buy from you.

· Government buying requires government contracts.

· It’s faster to use an existing contract than to start a new competition.

· Some acquisition methods are a LOT simpler and faster than others.

· Winners know what those are and market accordingly.

Not motivated yet? Okay, let’s put it this way:

When you know your way around the Federal Acquisition Regulations, or FARS (aka Title 48 Code of Federal Regulations [C.F.R] Parts 1 through 53) you have the power to:

· Influence project specifications — entirely legally!

· Schedule marketing activities for maximum impact

· Disqualify competitors,

· Get paid on time, and even collect late payment fees from government!

· Ensure that you’re being treated fairly, and

· Fix the problem if you’re NOT treated fairly.

If you don’t learn the rules, you risk:

· Missing opportunities

· Looking too inexperienced to be worth a second meting

· Making naive price offers that lose your margin & profit to the prime

· Spending thousands to get on a bid team but get dropped from the contract.

· Not getting paid, or being terminated, for non-performance or non-compliance.

· Getting barred or sued.

And don’t tell me you don’t need to know that because you’re just going to subcontract.

· Buyers presume that you know the rules.

· Many of the prime contractor’s obligations under the FARS flow down to subcontractors.

· Some partners take advantage of you when they realize that you don’t know the rules.

If government buyers want what you’ve got, especially if they have an urgent need, they will go out of their way to find an existing contract rather than start a new competition.

Remember that what you’re selling includes not only your products or services but the whole experience of doing business with you. Like you, government buyers are also under pressure to do more than they have time to do…and that includes a whole lot of other things to do besides finding convenient ways to buy from you.

Turn that into an advantage by making it easier for your government buyer to do business with you! Research current contract vehicles your buyer might use to do business with you. That’s why it helps to know the rules: because government has a lot of different options when it wants to buy something. Some are faster than others. Each is ideal for meeting certain kinds of requirements.

Did you know? Every government purchase doesn’t have to start with a full-blown, full-and-open competition complete with requests for proposals and an elaborate evaluation process. For example, a contracting officer can often amend the scope and terms of an existing contract vehicle to include new suppliers, products or services. Another option might be to use an open-ended pre-negotiated contract that has set the terms and conditions of sale but guaranteed the vendor no business at all.

Contract Vehicle:
A government buyer must have a contract — a legal agreement between buyer and seller — to do business with you. Government uses several different kinds of contracts; even a government credit card purchase is a contract.

Indefinite Delivery Vehicle (IDV):

No, that’s not the courier truck that never shows up (though it’s frequently mistaken by novices as “The Contract That Failed To Deliver”). Also known as Indefinite Quantity, Indefinite Delivery (IDIQ), or Task Order / Delivery Order contract. This type of contract may be awarded to one or multiple vendors. After much negotiation, it sets the terms and conditions of the vendor’s offer to defined buyers, but does not guarantee any business. The vendor must keep in touch with authorized buyers, both by marketing (when there are no orders against the contract) and responding (when competitions are published for orders against that contract).

When you’ve got your own contracting vehicles in place, the buyer can use a simplest option, and you get:

· Lower business development costs

· Greater certainty

· Faster return on investment

· More margin and more profit

Buying – By – Numbers

Let’s look at the process in three stages:

· Pre-Solicitation

· Formal Competition

· Post Award

Pre-Solicitation

So, you’re going to stop fighting with me: you’re resigned to getting the know “the System.” The good news is that this part actually has some structure and logic to it. Well, learning about it does anyway.

I’m going to propose that you read this section while you’re logged on and can skim the Federal Acquisition Regulations as we go along. Pull up the table of contents, at least, using either

http://www.arnet.gov/fars

http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html#page1 and scroll down to Title 48 C.F.R., and select the most current version
FARS References:
1 Federal Acquisition Regulations System
2 Definitions of words and terms
3 Improper business practices and personal conflicts of interest
4 Administrative matters