You have the best solution. You are offering the best great value. Your customer adores you.
This sale is a done deal, right? Nope.
Not, if they need to use a contract method that you don’t have or don’t qualify for.
To succeed in government business, you have to have not just the best solution but easy ways for your customer to access it. And, while sales and marketing may be 90 percent of the job, no one makes money without taking care of that last 10 percent.
This is especially true right now, as the federal government is poised to start yet another year under a Continuing Resolution (CR), the temporary funding mechanism that allows agencies to stay open but not to initiate any new projects.
The phrase “no new projects” is so frequently mentioned in CR explanations that it doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. While the definition of “new” isn’t what it used to be, agencies must still take precautions to follow the rules. On other hand, they also have to continue meeting their missions, lest the same Congress that technically handcuffed them with a CR, hold an Oversight Hearing 6 months from now on why that “mission critical” project didn’t get done.
So, what’s an agency to do?
Increasingly, the answer is using multiple award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts, like the GSA Schedules. Issuing a task order against an IDIQ is not the same as issuing a new contract. While that doesn’t change the prohibition on “no new projects,” agencies can more easily modify a task order to include logical follow-on or ancillary work that, in reality, allows a mission critical project to move forward when issuing a new, stand-alone contract would draw protests and oversight scrutiny.
In an era when CR’s can last for months, and even for an entire fiscal year, the flexibility multiple award IDIQ’s bring to both agencies and their contractor partners is vitally needed. Congress does not always add two and two together when passing a CR, yet agencies must take action on things like cybersecurity protections. As such, if your firm doesn’t own, or have access to, one of these contracts, you can miss out on real business.
Similarly, if your customer needs to conduct a procurement as a small business set-aside to meet its small business use numbers, you could be out of luck if you’re not a small business. Finding a small business to partner with, especially one that can be the lead on an important project, should be an important part of your firm’s federal business strategy. If you are a small business, remember that your federal customer still does not get credit for buying from you if the IDIQ contract you’re using is technically held by a large firm. The size status of the company holding the contract is what determines whether it’s counted as a small business award.
When your firm is tracking any federal project, you need to ask not just the “what” questions, but the “how” as well. If your customer is thinking about using an acquisition method you don’t have access to, you must either find a way to get access or try to persuade your customer on why a different approach is in their best interest. Many times, in fact, agencies will ask the “how” question as part of their own acquisition planning process. Make sure you offer suggestions that keep your firm competitive.
No one scores a touchdown in football by getting to the 10 yard line. Every player knows they have to get in the end zone. And, so it is with federal IT contracting. The last 10 yards are the acquisition method. Make sure your firm doesn’t get stranded in the Red Zone.
This article was original posted to the Comstor blog.
