Here are some of the reasons why you haven’t won yet a Government Contract:
Late Delivery: Recently the FAR Council issued a new rule regarding the Government’s documentation and retention of contractor performance evaluations. This is a Government-wide system that requires the Contracting Officer to rate the supplier on a minimum of 5 areas of contract performance: 1) technical, 2) cost control, 3) schedule/timeliness, 4) management or business relations and 5) small business subcontracting. Contractors that have previous poor ratings in this system will face an increasingly difficult time in winning new awards without presenting some corrective action and or mitigation plan with the new proposal.
Failing An Audit: With certain types of awards, the government will ask the prospective awardee if they have previously been audited or had certification of their accounting system to government requirements. The prospective awardee must present proof that their accounting system has been verified to meet Government requirements. If the most recent evaluation resulted in a “not adequate” rating (either by the DCAA or through an A-133 or YellowBook audit) then the government will need more risk mitigation to present an award to the potential awardee.
Understanding The Needs Of Your Customer: There are so many tools that the Government offers to help the contractor or grantee be aware of funding opportunities that sometimes basic marketing is overlooked by the potential awardee. For instance, the Government publishes daily lists of opportunities within the government in the Federal Business Opportunities listings. These descriptions are usually quite detailed in describing the opportunity of what the Government is looking for. If the potential awardee has not talked with the requesting agency to fully understand the requirements, to get to know the specific needs behind the request and to get to know who is requesting the service/product, then the potential awardee is failing to understand the basic sales process. Just because the Federal Government is your customer doesn’t mean you don’t have to do a normal sales and marketing effort in order to sell your products/services effectively. The government is just like any other consumer. They will usually require several competitive bids to assure they are getting the best deal. In many cases the government will also evaluate proposals based on total value to the government (which can and does include some intangible factors such as relationships, past performance, quality, and other factors that a good sales process will point out to the consumer). Understanding your customer and then developing a detailed marketing and sales plan is important in the commercial world and it is equally important in securing Federal awards.
Government cleaning contracts can be a lucrative business, but first, you need to beat the competition. Jobs with the federal government can be a great source of income for your cleaning business. But government cleaning contracts aren’t easy to come by. While the federal government does reserve some twenty-three percent of their contractor funds for small businesses, many small companies are competing for that money. Not only that, but there are extra steps you have to take when bidding on government contracts, and if you miss any of them, you may jeopardize your chances of winning the bid.
The good news is that government cleaning contracts can also come at the state and local level, which usually requires a little less paperwork and are just as profitable. Whether you choose to go with the federal, state, or local level, it’s important to know how government bids differ from the private sector bids, and what you need to do to win those contracts.
Why government contracts?
If this seems like a lot of work, you may be wondering what the benefit of government contracts is in the first place? What makes them better than other contracts?
One of the biggest benefits of government contracts is that they have the potential to be long-term. While some bids are “spot bids,” which means they expire at the end of the job, others are for long stretches, which can guarantee you business for a long time as long as you continue to do a good job.
Another benefit is money. Government cleaning contracts tend to pay very well, with millions of dollars spent each year on cleaning businesses. That can translate to handsome profits for you if you’re savvy enough to win the bid.
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