Obtaining a government contract for your business takes a great deal of steps and allocated time but can have numerous benefits to your business. Benefits include stability, fair competition, a steady monthly income, increasing company value, and a stronger client portfolio through obtaining federal, local, and state government customers. This article will break down the steps needed to obtain a contract and how Complete Contract Consulting can help make the process easier for your business.
The Registration Process
The first step in obtaining a government contract, according to the Small Business Administration, is to register your business to be able to sell goods and services to the government. Your business will need to get a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). A UEI is a unique 12-character, alpha-numeric value which you will receive when registering with SAM or System for Award Management. SAM is “more than just an official government organization that handles contracting databases” according to Govconwire.
With SAM you can file a record to do business with the U.S. government, check the status of your registration, update, or renew it, look up government contracts records, and access public award information.
The next step in registering will be matching your products and services to a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. These codes “classify businesses based on the product or service they supply” according to the SBA.
If you’re a small business, you must also meet size requirements set by SBA to be eligible for government contracts. These standards define the maximum size a business can reach and still be considered a small business.
Complying with all laws and regulations is an important part when entering in the government contracting process. A list of government contracting regulations can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations.
Identifying Contracting Opportunities
There are a few ways your business can go about identifying contracting opportunities. As mentioned earlier, SAM can be used for multiple things, one being finding active contract opportunities greater than $25,000. One can also explore agency forecast data of upcoming contract opportunities by using an assigned NAICS code.
Conducting Research
Exploring the federal market is the next step in the process of marketing your business to federal customers. According to GSA, It is important to research which federal agencies and departments are buying your products or services, how much they’re buying, if they’ve awarded any set-asides, and what your competition is doing. You can then analyze and use this data to create an effective strategy to achieve success.
Develop Your Federal Marketing Plan
When developing a plan to market your business to the federal government, you must first know your own competitive position. This means clearly outlining what makes your business stand out from your competitors, then effectively communicating these factors to Federal agencies.
Your business must assess its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in the Federal procurement market. You can then “capitalize on your strengths, know your weaknesses and overcome them, develop a plan to address market needs, and seize available opportunities”, says GSA.
After you have assessed your business, you can seize available opportunities by targeting the right agencies and departments based on the research data available.
Creating and developing your federal marketing and sales plan based on your found data and outlining the activities you plan to conduct to meet your goals will help keep your business on track to reach success.
Small Business Government Spending
The top challenge for many small businesses is finding the right financial partner for their business, according to Chron. GSA contracts are an exceptional opportunity for small businesses in need of financial support. The U.S. government is the largest customer in the world, buying all kinds of products and services and is required to purchase certain quantities from small businesses.
In 2020 alone, the federal government went above and beyond federal contracting goals and awarded over $145 billion in federal contract dollars to small businesses, according to data from the SBA. The SBA runs multiple programs to help businesses from all socio-economic classes in winning federal contracts. These programs include the small, disadvantaged business program, the women-owned small business federal contracting program, the veteran- owned small business program, and the HUBZone program.
The government allocated 25% of its contracting to small businesses in 2020 and awarded 26%. All combined, $147 billion of federal contract dollars went to small businesses in 2021. $237 billion was spent on defense contracts while over $408 billion was spent on civilian contracts.
How CCC Can Help
At Complete Contract Consulting, we leverage our 30 plus years of combined industry experience to win government contracts for our clients. We understand how time consuming and daunting the procurement cycle can be and that’s why we’re here to help your business in every step of the way.
Our Acquisition Agents manually search for government bid requests that fit our clients, define the unique requirements, help you submit your proposal, and then an evaluation takes place. At CCC, we have a 98.5% success rate at winning contracts for our clients which is credited to our strong team, experience, dedication to serve, and our holistic approach. We’re so confident in our ability that we even offer deferred payment options. You won’t spend a cent until we win you a government contract.
Contact us today to learn more about how we help you land the government contract you want.