How does the government find you, and how do you find the opportunity that is right for you?
In the last blog, we reviewed market research at the federal government level using FPDS and USA Spending, which are both websites. We began to explore market research at the State of California level (always remember to check your Secretary of State website for doing business with the state for the parallel resource in your state, or email us and we can provide that information for you) using the Department of General Services SCPRS, a system that like the feds have, that tracks all contracts issued by the State of California. But, how does the federal government find you?
We will discuss many strategies in future blogs such as government conferences, small business conferences, industry days, capability presentations, sub-contracting, GSA Schedules, to name a few. However, the most important thing is to get out and network. And as we said earlier, once you have registered in SAM and received your CAGE Code, you are now visible, but you need to let them know you are in the system because there are over 1.7 million businesses registered in the system. The most way we teach our clients to do is to respond to Sources Sought Notices (where the government is asking you if you have the capability, capacity, past performance to execute a requirement they have. You can find these on www.FedBizOpps.gov. We will discuss more about this in future blogs.
That link is pasted here for your convenience: http://www.dgs.ca.gov/pd/Home.aspx When you go here, scroll around and look at all of the opportunities that are available. If you want some help in finding the general direction to begin your research, again, just email or call us and we will be happy to point you in the right direction. So, how does the state government find you? In California, they go into Bid Sync where you have created your profile as per the registration and certification blogs located here: https://cfrandassociates.com/blog/government-contracting-part-iv-certifications/ The profile you create on Bidsync allows the state procurement specialists to search you out by NAICS Codes and UNSPSC Classifications.
Soon, the whole system in California will convert to a program called FI$CAL which will eliminate Bid Sync and it will all be controlled by the Department of General Services therefore giving that agency more control of the State’s procurement process.
Tune in to our next blog as we will begin working through the various ways of actually marketing your business to the government.