Business Opportunity:
Contractor Operated Civil Engineer Supply Store (COCESS) at Cannon AFB, NM
If you want the free full summary of this target go to http://login.epipeline.com/limitedDisplay?ID=FOMDUSA1694&FLAG=SUMMARY. This target is only available for a short period of time.
If you need help designing and executing your capture program or proposal to win this procurement contact Doug Allston, at 703-642-5153.
News
Court Decision On Small Business Set-Aside
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
In case you have missed it, a federal court has found the law establishing a 5 percent goal for awarding defense contracts to small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals unconstitutional. This may kill the entire set-aside program. Ok, what does it mean to you if you are a set-aside company and that program goes away?
It means you may have to compete in the open marketplace against much larger companies with far greater business development resources. My observation over the last several years has been that the set-aside program in general has not been all that effective in getting the government's business done. It may have been effective in helping marginal small businesses get started or survive but for the most part well run set-aside companies succeeded in spite of the program. The advent of GSA schedules and large GWAC contracts have reduced the convenience of the set-aside program as a contracting tool for quickly getting a contract in place. I will also tell you that the operators in the government, those with the mission and money who usually make the selection of contractors, never gave much support to the set-aside program. Those people normally could care less if you were in a set-aside category. They just wanted to be able to hire the contractor who could do the job. In fact the set-aside program was often a hindrance to them.
OK, what if you are a set-aside company and they do kill off the program. How do you go forward and succeed? First, pick your battles where you have a good chance to win. You have limited business development resources. You can not chase all opportunities. You have to define your strategic government organizations and focus your business development efforts on them. It is true you need to know and be known by the government client before they even need your services.
Second, you have to unlock your business development resources. The single most important element in winning business from the government is access. If you do not have access to the potential client you can never present your business case. I do not care if you are a ten person company or a ten thousand person company, you will never have enough business development resources to insure your growth if you do not get your technical staff and line managers involved in your growth process.
Third, remember that when at all possible your potential government client is going to hire the company they perceive as capable of not only doing the work, which most bidders are, but also doing it when the project is changing, evolving or having problems. Anyone who has ever worked a project involving more than one person and lasting more than fifteen minutes knows the project will not go exactly as planned.
I must admit this court ruling could not have come at a worse time for most set-aside companies. You are facing a double whammy with this and the down-turn in contracting we are about to go through. Over the last seventeen years we have helped hundreds of set-aside companies grow into large, successful companies in all kinds of economic environments with and without the set-aside program. For $475 each or $950 for both workshops and two days of your time come to our Business Development and Capture workshops in our Annandale, Virginia office and learn what it takes to grow a successful business. We reduce the cost by $100 when you take the two days back-to-back for a fee of $850. We have workshops scheduled on 10 and 11 December.
Happy hunting and questions and comments to Doug Allston at 703-627-5820.
2008 White House Ornament
As many of you are aware Advantage Consulting has the privilege of serving many charitable organizations. We would like to highlight this years Annandale Lions Club Charities efforts for sight and hearing conservation, youth activities, community service and other charitable projects. The Annandale Lions Club Charities, Inc. is selling the Official 2008 White House Ornament at the same price as the foundation sells it for to retail customers, $17.00. This years Ornament honors the administration of President Benjamin Harrison (1822-1901), the twenty-third president of the United States. Inspired by the Harrison family's Victorian Christmas tree, this 24 karat gold finished ornament interprets the first recorded tree to decorate the White House.
The ornament's cost is $17.00 each, plus $3.00 shipping (while quantities last). For multiple orders the shipping will be adjusted based on quantity. The ornaments can be picked up at Advantage Consulting offices to eliminate shipping cost.
For more information or to place orders call John Landers 703-354-9227 or jlanders@cox.net or email to ornaments@annandalelions.org or order direct at http://www.annandalelions.org/ornaments.htm
The Annandale Lions Club Charities, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information on the Annandale Lions Club please contact Sid Jaffe at 703-642-5153.
Networking Opportunity
Articles:
The Coming Economic Down Turn For Government Contracting
By Doug Allston, President, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
One of the benefits of getting old and working in the same industry for over 37 years is that you see the recurrences of events. The simple fact is our involvement in Iraq is going to decrease and therefore the spending will decrease. Our involvement in Afghanistan will increase but it will not off-set the Iraq spending. A new administration, even a Republican, will have different priorities. If the Democrats win both Congress and the Presidency we will have whole-sale priority changes. Couple all this with our current financial crisis and an already huge deficit and government contracting is going to shrink over the next few years. We have seen this happen before folks. Now is the time to check your Company's financial condition and prepare to weather the downturn. I can guarantee you that some of you who are reading this Newsletter are working for companies that will be going out-of-business over the next couple of years.
There are two things your company can do to insure it's survival and maybe even enable it to continue to grow. First, you need to make sure your financial house is in order. Your spending has to be under control and most importantly plans must be in place to insure that your financial obligations can be down-sized along with your revenue. On of the most important of these are property leases. If you lose a contract can you get out of the lease?
That was the doom and gloom. In major downturns we have had clients not only survive but also grow successfully. The companies who do their home-work and preposition themselves on upcoming procurements will continue to have higher probabilities of winning the contracts and the work. If you are going to continue winning those task orders and contracts you are going to have to conduct business development better then your competitors. In downturns the competition only gets harder and companies work harder to win because there are going to be fewer opportunities. You are also going to see companies who you do not normally compete with show up in your market space. You are going to see more large companies going after smaller contracts. If you are going to be successful you will need to compete better and that is what Advantage Consulting can help companies do.
It is often said that the federal government marketplace is recession proof and in many ways that is true. That does not mean it is untouched by recession. However, the federal marketplace for contractors is very sensitive to changes in government spending priorities. That means the DOD budget will shrink and the civil side of government will increase but overall the pie is going to shrink and I would expect this to be a very significant down-sizing. The government is running out of money!
Happy hunting and questions and comments to Doug Allston at 703-627-5820.
Organize Your 8(a) Company To Win Work
By Sid Jaffe, CEO, Advantage Consulting, Inc.
The 8(a) program was established by the SBA to provide minority owned firms with greater opportunities to compete for contracts. Being in the program is not a guarantee of work. In fact many firms go through the duration of their time in the program without winning any work that had been set aside for an 8(a) firm. As a firm is going through the application process the company should be conducting research into the agencies and contacts that need to be made upon acceptance into the program to learn of opportunities for work coming out. During the 8(a) application process it is a good time to craft the corporation's presentation that can be tailored to agency requirements that you learn as you build relationships. The key is that the successful 8(a) firms market aggressively and continuously. They do not park outside the Small Business Advocate's office waiting for work to come to them. A first step in preparing to utilize your 8(a) is to be certain that the firm's staff understands how to build relationships with their clients and contacts. Following that the company should inventory the Government contacts that the firm's people have access to for discussions. It is at the intersection of a good contact and an unfilled need that opportunity exists to provide solutions. The 8(a) is a tool for the Government to get to your firm, not a requirement that they use your organization. For more information on 8(a) marketing contact Sid Jaffe at 703-642-5153.
FEDBIZOPS Is Not The Answer
By Bill Hamilton, Vice President, Advantage Consulting Inc.
If not every week, at least several times a month "the call" is made. A company, usually a small one, calls to ask for help in a procurement they just discovered in FEDBIZOPS or on e buy or maybe in an opportunity listing. After a few questions, their enthusiasm turns to uncertainty and then to unhappiness. In most cases the company does not even know the issuing agency or the concerns that caused the solicitation.
While "bluebirds" do happen occasionally, in most cases they don't. The solicitation that appears out of the blue is usually wired for someone else. There are a few basic considerations we can make to analyze the potential opportunity from the outset.
To begin, ask yourself, do we know the agency well? If not a no-bid is usually the best course. Assuming you do know the customer, do you have good access to the customer? If this answer is yes, then is the opportunity real? How do you know? Is there a problem to solve and can your company solve it?
Once you have determined there is a real problem that you understand and can solve, then consider the very basic question, "Is it funded and what kind of money is it?" Do you have a champion in the agency that knows you and wants you? What vehicle is going to be used to procure? Do you have access to that vehicle? When is the RFP due out and what kind of a turn-around do you expect? This will tell you how much time you have to complete the capture process and ultimately win the procurement.
Have you determined a win strategy to complete the capture and overcome your competition? Do you fully understand the needs and dreams of the customer? Have you identified the risks and obstacles in the bid and developed strategies to counter them? Finally, are there any other factors or problem areas that would preclude your winning the bid and what do you intend to do about them?
The capture process is detail oriented and based on fact rather than perception. You need answers to as many of these questions as possible based on evidence and not on perceived or desired intent. The companies that react to a published solicitation without doing the necessary research before hand are wasting money, time and personnel. Occasionally they will win something but most often they don't. When you don't win, there is another competitor that knew the agency better than you did.
Do your homework, do your research and question everything. Don't assume, know. Want to discuss business strategy or capture? Call Bill Hamilton at 703-405-8912 and let's talk.
|
