Despite the current cuts on government budget, the US federal market is unarguably a good and profitable place for other business people to make money. With the huge expenditure both by the federal and state government in billions of dollars, it is the perfect opportunity to make some money for government contracts. The US is one of the biggest if not the biggest purchaser of both goods and services in the global and transacting with it would be quite challenging to some extent. Since the government will be making large purchases, bids will be required which required which be a struggle to give the best bid as making it low won’t be enough. Moreover, each government will come up with its bidding legislation although the generally they have the same skeleton. The following are sources to assist you to get a government contract.
For you to succeed as a federal contractor you should be ready for plenty of paperwork. Everything will have to be submitted before you start bidding for any contract. The necessities as per the government will be requesting for a data universal numbering system number (DUNS) so that the government can find out which field you work in. If the contract you are bidding is local or state you will need to find out what will be required from you.
When you are responding to a federal bid invitation, the procurement officer will need to check your business information with the System for Award Management. Hence its recommended that before you seek any federal contract, your business information should be given to SAM. The System for Award Management will give information about your experience, where you are location and your qualification status as a small business or attract preferences for being among the disadvantaged.
The invite for a bid is always the starting point of the bidding procedure. The bid requests define the projects, the procedural stipulations, the time limit for completion and the bidding deadlines. Various governments and institutions may differ on how things are carried out but the seal-bid tactic will be same. The sealed bids are all released at the same time once the deadline is over, so that people who bud later don’t access benefits over early bidders.
Giving the lowest bid will not automatically make you the winner. You need to have vast experience in the field of the project you are bidding on. Moreover, your bid needs to follow all the specifications outlined in the bid invitation and anything else than that will eliminate your chances to win.
If you are bidding for the first time, rather than starting with the bigger and complicated projects, you are better off with the minor ones. Bidding for a small portion of the pie is a good way of building yourself. It would be great to offer to handle part of the project from a recognized big bidder to learn how things are done.