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Everything you need to know about landing government video contracts.

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  1. Introduction
  2. Marketing to the Government
    1. Know the Rules!
    2. Selling to the Feds
      1. Calendar Concerns
      2. Procurement Vehicles
      3. Getting to Know You
    3. The Three Rules of The New Government Contracting
  3. GSA Schedule Contracts
    1. Today GSA, Tomorrow the World
    2. Placing GSA Schedule Orders
    3. What GAO is Saying About Schedule Orders
    4. Incidentally Yours
    5. Leasing Nuts and Bolts
    6. Industrial Funding Fee Update
  4. BPAs and Getting Paid
    1. BPAs 101
      1. An Introduction to Blanket Purchase Agreements
      2. GSA Schedule BPAs
      3. BPAs and the Law
    2. Getting Paid
  5. Formal Competition
    1. The New Bid Protest and Debriefing Procedures
    2. Filing a Timely Protest
    3. Bid Protests: What Happens After Filing
  6. Small Business Contracting
    1. Certifiably Small
    2. Small Business Contracting With the Government
    3. Small Business Subcontracting
    4. HUBba HUBba
  7. Special Requirements
    1. Are You a Sub?
    2. Federal Acquisition of Foreign Products
    3. Record Retention
    4. Procurement Integrity
    5. A Necessary Distance
    6. Suspension and Debarment
    7. The Freedom of Information Act
  8. Federal Links


    The Three Rules of The New Government Contracting

    Everyone knows about the three rules of buying real estate: location, location, and location! And in law school I learned that likewise there are three rules of practicing law: preparation, preparation, and (more) preparation. Well, there are also three rules for businesses engaged in government contracting. They are, in order of importance, as follows: marketing, marketing, and (more) marketing.

    That’s right — marketing is king these days. Marketing rules. If a business doesn’t actively, aggressively, and continually market to government customers, some other contractor will, and that other contractor, more likely than not, will be the one getting the sale.

    It wasn’t always this way. When I first started practicing government contracts law, the three rules of federal procurement were: win the contract, win the contract, and win (more) contracts. Getting the contract was key. If a bidder got the contract, it got the sale. Getting the contract was 90 percent of getting the job done.

    Nowadays, getting the contract isn’t a big deal. Everyone already has one or more contract vehicles to offer an agency: GSA Schedules, Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA), and Indefinite Quantity, Indefinite Delivery (IDIQ) contracts. These days, the agency expects that a vendor already has a contract vehicle in place. And with smaller procurement staffs to work with, contract shops understandably prefer to work with suppliers that already have contract vehicles in place. After all, why shouldn’t an agency favor vendors who make it easy on it to buy and allows the agency to avoid the rigors of a full blown competition?

    The new procurement regulations put into place over the past few years have radically changed the way the government buys goods and services. No longer does an agency publicize most of its procurements in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD). Instead, those procurements are placed under GSA Schedules, BPAs, or IDIQ contracts that do not require advertisement of either the procurement opportunity or notice of award.

    GSA Schedules have blossomed in this looser environment. GSA estimates that sales under its Schedules will increase from $2.5 billion to $4.5 billion in 1998. GSA’s Information Technology (IT) Schedule, its biggest, now offers leasing, training, and support services in addition to hardware, software, maintenance, and repair. GSA now encourages agencies to place BPAs under GSA Schedules, making Schedule sales that much easier. GSA also enables the formation of Teaming Agreements among two or more GSA Schedule contractors to offer complete Schedule solutions to more complex needs.

    Gone is the Maximum Order Limitation (MOL). In its place is the Maximum Order, which is just the figure under which a Schedule contractor must accept an order at its Schedule price. Agencies are allowed to place orders above the Maximum Order and to ask contractors for even greater discounts. The sky is the limit for the total GSA Schedule order amount.

    Price reductions have been eased under GSA Schedules. No longer will a reduction to one agency require a similar reduction on all other sales. Instead, spot price reductions are allowed and encouraged.

    While IDIQ contracts are still announced in the CBD and competed, multiple awards of IDIQ contracts are now favored under statute. Once those IDIQ contracts have been awarded, the agency will generally look only to those IDIQ contractors for goods and services covered by that vehicle. Vendors not having an IDIQ contract are left on the outside looking in.

    Streamlined procurements for commercial items are now authorized that allow an agency to combine its CBD notice with the solicitation. No other documentation other than the combined notice/solicitation is issued. Offerors must respond within 15 days to the notice to be considered for award.

    Times have changed. A government contractor that relies on an agency’s bidders list or that waits for procurement notices in the CBD will quickly go the way of the dinosaurs to extinction. These are the days of marketing, marketing, and (more) marketing. Get to know your government customers, your agency users, and your contracting specialists. Get the word out about your company. Get moving, and don’t stop.

     

     

Copyright Andrew Mohr 2000. All Rights Reserved Disclaimer:
This information in this site is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and may not be relied upon. For legal advice about any of the topics discussed in this book, please seek the advice of legal counsel.