Now that you have evaluated your company (see entrepreneur/2008/11/18/guide_to_getting_government_contracts_part.htm">Guide to Getting Government Contracts, Part I), registered with the appropriate databases, familiarized yourself with various government programs, understand the rules and regulations and did some research as to what agencies and who in those agencies to target, you are ready to seek out a government contract.
There is one website that provides federal government agencies and departments information on vendors, and their products and services. It also provides information on contracts open for bid. That website is Federal Business Opportunities at: http://www.fedbizopps.gov. All Federal solicitations worth more than $25,000 are posted here.
Gambarbella suggested familiarizing yourself with the procedure by doing a mock bid. Search out in the fedbizopps site for a solicitation that falls into your line of expertise. Then study it to see what the terms, conditions, specifications and quality control issues are. Make certain that you have all the proper certifications. If you do business in an industry that requires certifications, you likely are also certified to do business with the government in that industry. However, if you don't, this gives you an opportunity to see what you may be lacking prior to making a real bid.
Read the solicitation you select carefully and make certain that you understand what is expected.
It will include all the necessary certifications. It will also include instructions on what should be in your bid proposal and the format in which the proposal should be presented. That will include how many pages the proposal should be, the size of the type, whether the copy should be single or double spaced. It will instruct you to segregate your cost data from your technical data and tell you how many copies of the proposal you need to provide. In short, make the bid or proposal as orderly as possible and make it easy for the contract manager to find information. Include an index and table of contents, and tabs to separate information. If you intend to use a sub-contractor or a number of sub-contractors to perform the job, include letters of agreement from each. Also when determining the actual bid, be certain that you crunch the numbers with care. Always include the costs for labor, materials, equipment, supplies, travel, payroll taxes, benefits and overhead and then include a reasonable profit. The solicitation will also inform you where to send the bid and the date on which the bid must be received.
Gambarbella recommended that you set up a team to work on the bid. "Have them go through the solicitation carefully. Have them read it at least three times to be certain that it is understood. A lot of times there are terms and conditions and cost contract solicitation previsions that are referenced. If you don't understand these terms, conditions and previsions, then obtain the forms that explain them and look them up." The SBA can help you obtain the forms.
Finally, when you have your mock bid prepared, show it to someone who knows the procedure and have that person critique it. You can get this kind of assistance from your local SBA office, said Gambarbella.
"The SBA provides counselors who can provide assistance in government contracting. These counselors are called Procurement Center Representatives. All of them are procurement professionals and most of them were contract officers for the federal government with the Department of Defense, the GSA or other civilian agency before coming to the SBA. So they know the process. They can tell you what is good and bad about your bid, what you did well and what you did not do well and provide you with information on how to do it better."
