Government Contracting, The Final Preliminary Steps (Part VI)

So, now you have completed some initial steps, now what?
In the previous five articles, we have talked about the initial steps. Doing the basic things required to be eligible for any kind of government contract which described as federal, state, agency, municipal, or large business. Now, the next step is how do you find opportunities and market to them? We will spend the next couple of articles presenting some basic ways to go about marketing your firm and attracting opportunities and other ways to find public opportunities that are perhaps a little more competitive.

However, there was one major category we still have to cover in the preparatory part of government contracting. That area is classification. The way your company is listed and categorized or classified is typically by NAICS Codes, we did show you how to find them in Part II, but here we are going to look at their relationship to marketing and to the other codes that are requested by many organizations.

Fortunately, all you have to do is type in your keywords here in this link: http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ and your NAICS Codes will come up. The key is in developing the right keywords and then selecting the right NAICS Codes. Once this is done, there are parallel sites to find your SIC Codes and UNSPSC Codes, and for some agencies, like the Feds, they still require PSC and FSC Codes. However, for the purposes of marketing, all that is really required is that you memorize your primary NAICS Code and list all your NAICS Codes on your Capability Statement. We will be elaborating extensively on the Capability Statement in the next blog.

To conclude this initial section on the preliminary work to become a government contractor, I would recommend placing your DUN’s Number, CAGE Code, Certifications, and NAICS Codes (at least your primary) on your business card. In addition, all of these numbers should definitely be all over your “About Us” page on your website.