Gov Bid Marketing is dedicated to serving our nation’s veterans.

A veteran is an individual who has served in our nation’s military, thereby at some point in their life, wrote a blank check to the United States of America, for an amount up to and including their life, all in defence of our freedoms.

We are aware joining the armed forces takes a lot of courage, also know that building a business takes drive, help and guidance. The Department of Veterans and Small Business Association (SBA) provide a lot of help for veterans looking to run a business.

Every veteran who wants to transition into business has a majority of the character traits required to succeed in business, as they are similar to those required to survive the military.

According to statistics from the Small Business Association:

1. There are more than 491 000 veteran owned businesses in the USA
2. Veteran businesses turnover more than $1.2 trillion in sales receipts every year.

• Over 55% of veteran businesses are home based businesses.

1. More than 9% of businesses in the USA are owned by veterans.
2. 53% of majority owned veteran businesses employ at least one person.

In upholding our commitment to honour all who served, Gov Bid Marketing has a department dedicated to serving veteran businesses. We assist veterans with guidance also assistance in obtaining grants for their chosen businesses. Moreover we provide bid writing and teaming arrangements for veteran businesses in order to assist them in winning federal, state and local area contracts.

Our services are open to existing or new veteran businesses. Click the link here, which will connect you to our application portal, detailing all the services we can offer veterans.

Alternatively, for further information, email us at info@govbidmarketing.com

1. General Electric Co., of Cincinnati Ohio, has won a $975 million contract to provide technology maturation and weapon testing services for the Air Force
2. Manson Construction Co., Seattle, Washington was awarded a $17.995 million contract for a replacement gate at the Lake Washington Ship Canal.
3. General Atomics of San Diego, California was awarded a $8.8 million contract for the development of a two or three launch motor subsystem, two energy storage group tailored configuration of the electromagnetic Aircraft Launch system (EMAILS).

1. Lockheed Martin Corporation, Fort Worth, Texas was awarded $7.63 billion contract to procure aircraft for the navy.
2. Raytheon Technologies Corporation, East Hartford, Connecticut was awarded a $132.6 million contract for engine remanufacture in the airforce.
3. Donjon Marine Co. Inc, Hillside, New Jersey was awarded a $23.9 million contract by the army for maintenance dredging of Flushing Bay and Creek, Queens, New York.

1. Applied Research Associates Inc, Albuquerque, New Mexico has been awarded a $281.3 million contract for research and development enabling capabilities for the Defense Treat Reduction Agency.
2. Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida has been awarded a $10.4 million modification contract to convert six AGM – 158B missiles to test assets and nine weapon systems simulators.
3. Assured Information Security Inc., Rome, New York has been awarded a $8.97 million completion contract for lotus software.

The market for contracts is the determining factor of business growth and sustainability. Vendors can only exist if there is a demand for their services, also the size of the market for their services, which constitutes the contracts market.

In the United States, the contracts market can be divided into five sectors, namely.

• Private
• Local Municipality
• Town or City
• State
• Federal

Every sector of these markets operates independently of each other, with vendors operating in one or more of them. Private market for contracts covers the demand by individuals and private businesses for services. Local municipalities involve a county or district requiring a service or services, then offering to accept bids from local businesses. City and state markets involve contracts offered for services in city or state, with the respective businesses registered there only open to bid for the contracts. The federal market on the other hand covers contracts at the federal level for the whole United States, which are open to any business registered in the United States, in some cases worldwide.

The private market in many cases involves the smallest of all contracts, with the smallest businesses usually carrying them out. The local municipalities and city markets are usually dependent on the local population and amount budgeted to be spent on amenities in the local budget. The state and federal markets are larger, with the federal market being the largest buyer of goods and services in the world. In an average fiscal year, the federal market for contracts amounts to about $550 billion.

The registration criteria are similar for all businesses entities. The vender initially registers with the secretary of the state where it does businesses. In the private market, the registration qualifies the business to operate. If a business wants to apply to bid for contracts at the local, city or state level, it has to meet the set criteria for certification in the market. At the federal level, businesses must need a DUNS number and be registered in the Systems for Awards Management (SAM).

The advantage of doing private contracts is it’s the best way to start in business when beginning from scratch. Operating in the local municipality, town or state market level has the advantage of giving preference or sole rights to local businesses, therefore they can use them as a way of winning fairly large contracts. The advantage of operating in the federal market is the size of market, which is open to any business, irrespective of the size of the vendor.

The main disadvantage in the case of the private market is the limitation in scope for the award of contracts. Vendors are limited in their marketing range, as they can only bid for contracts announced by bidders in private media. In the cases of local, city and state markets, the size of markets may breed favoritism and corruption. Also, some municipalities and towns may be strapped for cash or go bankrupt, therefore result in late payments or complete losses on awarded contracts. The main disadvantage of operating in the federal market is, due to its size, many small vendors are intimidated to bid also, new vendors find it difficult to enter due to their lack of past experience.

The best way for a vendor to operate is to level a stake in more than one market. In doing so, you will be able to have a better chance of winning in an area.

1. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Hunstsville, Alabama has been awarded a contract with maximum amount of $3.286 billion to design, test and develop a GMD weapon system program.
2. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway California was awarded a $456.2 million for research and development into unmanned aircraft systems.
3. DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas was awarded a $56 million modification contract for maintenance support services for the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command Aviation
4. Austal USA LLC in Mobile, Alabama was awarded a $9.1 million contract for continuous studies of large unmanned surface vessel.

1. BAE Systems Ordinance Systems Inc. , Redferd, Virginia has been awarded a $1.288 billion modification contract for providing nitrocellulose and propellants to the army.
2. Booz Allan Hamilton Inc. , Mcheen, Virginia, has been awarded a $171.7 million contract to provide technical, analystical and managerial services to support the Naval Aviation Enterprise.
3. Togiak Management Services LLC, Anchorage, Alaska has been awarded a $49.9 million contract to apply paint. , prime and other maintenance work at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

1. Lockheed Martin in Orlando Florida was awarded a $39.6 million modification contract to procure electromechanical control actuation systems for the army.
2. Environmental chemical corporation of Burlingame, California has been awarded a $126.3 million contract for the replacement of the Water Treatment Plant at Marina Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
3. Northrop Grummen Corp., of Dallas, Virginia has been awarded a $22.1 million contract for the ROOSTER effort and delivery of a space vehicle.

1. Kokosing Alberici Traylor LLC, Westerville, ohio was awarded a $1.068 billion contract to construct the lock chamber of New Soo Lock at Sainte Maria, Michigan.
2. Occupational Training Center of Burlington County, New Jersey has been awarded a $38.7 million contract for base custodial Services for the Air Force in New Jersey.
3. Echelon Services LLC, Menasses, Virginia just won a $153.4 million cyber security contract with the DCSA.

FINDING THE RIGHT CONTRACT

When tendering for contracts in the public sectors, the first step is to identify suitable contract opportunities, also to keep up to date with contract opportunities advertised in the current market.

In the United States public sector, contract opportunities are called procurement notices and are issued via the federal, state, city and county level. Over 5000 procurement notices are issued every month in the US. These are all publicly available for all viable vendors to access such opportunities. Tendering and securing contracts is a great way to grow a business in a sustained controlled way.

The process is simple:

• Register a business; obtain the relevant certification for the target market. E.g. DUNS number, Systems for Award Management (SAM) and set asides for federal market.
• Monitor the relevant online portals for procurement notices.
• Sign up for alerts, with relevant keywords to your company.
• Review and access suitable procurement notices that your company may wish to bid for.
• Select a procurement notice and register the business interest using the specific details.
• Follow the notice instructions and submit your tender to the buyer.
• Apply to sub contract for business from prime vendors.

CHECKING THE RELEVANCE

A procurement notice should include the awarding body, the contract value, key NAICS codes, any lot structures and a short description. In our experience this can sometimes be quite limited, and you can always contact the buyer or register your interest, in order to access the full documents and double check that it is a relevant contract opportunity for your organization. Remember you will be evaluated on your tender submission, your price and your narrative responses to portray why you are the most suitable company for the contract in question. If it is not something that is 100% relevant to your business it should be a “no bid”, as it is likely a competitor will be a better fit and therefore awarded the contract.

Check The Minimum Requirements

The second check to make is always any minimum requirements or thresholds included in the tender contract documents. It is important to check that you are eligible to bid for the contract and there are no barriers to entry for your company. The typical requirements a buyer will outline are around minimum turnover, financial standards, set asides applicable, industry-specific memberships and experience. If you do not meet all of the minimum requirements, your bid can be excluded as immediately categorized as a “fail”.

To tender successfully, the opportunity needs to be 100% suitable and deliverable for your organization.

TENDERING GOV CONTRACTS

Once you have sources a suitable contract opportunity and undertaken the necessary steps, all that is left is to complete your tender document and submit it to the buyer, here is where the real work is!

Tendering for a contract is a required skill and takes preparation, organization and perseverance.  There will typically be a number of documents in your tender pack from the buyer, it is important to take time to read and understand all of them before starting to respond to the tender itself.

Each contract is different, and will have a specification document to advise exactly what the buyer is looking for. Your tender response must be in line with this specification and easily address all of the evaluation criteria. Keep in mind you are trying to score the most marks possible, in order to win the contract.