Small Business Today Magazine JUN 2014 MASTERWORD SERVICES INC | Page 36

EDITORIALFEATURE

Increase Your Business Revenue
by Obtaining Federal Government

Small Business Projects                      
By Maliha S. Mian, Attorney

T

he federal government spends billions of
dollars each year purchasing a variety of
goods and services and a significant amount
of that is spent with owners and operators
of small and medium sized businesses.
Learning how to successfully sell to the U.S. government (the world’s largest buyer of goods and
services) can be a daunting task. The solicitations
(projects) can be extremely long, confusing, and
inundated with regulations which can be quite
overwhelming to small and medium sized businesses. Add to the massive information (or lack
thereof) of these solicitations, the quick expected
response time hinders the chance of many small
businesses competing.

Moreover, the following frustrating questions
may present themselves: 

How do you find the projects? Does your business
qualify? How does one price the goods/services?
Once awarded, how does the business maintain
compliance and not breach the contract?

Here are some suggested approaches:

1.  Update your company’s business plan highlighting special skills and expertise that would be of
interest to government agencies.
•    It’s important to identify your strengths.
•   How is your product/service different and is
it more advantageous compared to competitors?

2.  Review your company’s marketing strategy and
goals.
• Develop a marketing plan that identifies government agencies that buy small business
products/services.
• Set attainable goals.
• Consider subcontracting opportunities.
• Research the subcontracting opportunities
and key players.
• Engage in strategic networking.

3. Learn the federal procurement process and
terms or team up with those who do.
34 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ JUNE 2014 ]

• Learn how to register or become certified.
• Find a team that can assist you with registration, certification, searches for projects that
match your capabilities, determining whether
your business qualifies, and/or assist with bid
preparation.
• Practice reading through a few solicitations to
see if you are able to handle the amount of
administrative and legal legwork it entails.
• Create a tracking system for projects you
want, projects you submitted proposals,
projects awarded to you, and projects not
awarded to you with detailed information as
to why it was not awarded to you and who it
was awarded to.

4. Get a good idea of pricing/cost of your goods/
services.

• Where can you cut costs to be more competitive?
• Do you have reliable vendors that can supply
you quickly?
• Do you have more than one vendor for each
component/part/supply that you may turn to
in the event the preferred vendor is unavailable or changes the quote?
• Do you have subcontracting options (i.e. can
you subcontract out part of the supplies and/
or labor to third party)?

5. Keep in mind, the lowest bid may not be
enough. Capabilities and quality of work are huge
determining factors as well.

• For each solicitation, the company’s background needs to be tailored to show off
your business’s expertise and capabilities.
• Do not forget items like timely communication, quick response time, etc. 
• Prepare a list of references and/or refer
jobs completed that illustrate your business’s capabilities and quality of work.

»Continued on Page 35