Ask HN: Government contracting

You don't get any advantages in the selection process, but you do learn how the procurement process works in government. And yes, state agencies are great references... government entities do talk to each other, often. Your reputation with one will be known by the others. Which can be a double-edged sword if you don't have your act together, but can be the heart of your company if you are service-oriented.

However, the idea that federal is somehow a step up from state is a bit odd to me. There are 50 states, and 1 country. Targeting the federal entities is putting all your eggs in one basket. Sure, it is a big basket... but a federal budget change could crush you.

It may be easier to do the state government contracts first to get used to doing them, get certified and arrange your accounting and other business practices to conform to government regulations. If you just contract in your current state you can grow very quickly, especially if it is for information technology, business management, cyber or physical security related services.

If you have a strong state presence it will be easier for the federal government to validate you for consideration for federal contracts. The best thing about doing the state contracts is if you see another contractor did a shoddy job you can bid for the work that is required to fix it (roads, buildings, computer systems, etc.) next time you are at your local courthouse or any government building ask them how things are running. If you hear complaints, there is a good chance that there is a contract out to get things fixed that you can bid on. The smaller the agency/government unit the faster the contract will normally be awarded (city->county->state->federal), though the bigger the agency normally the bigger the requirements.

If you have a nice bit of successful state contracts it should help you build up enough liquid money that is required to bid on the more lucrative government contracts (some require 1,000,000 in liquid cash to qualify) so you can pay employees even if you get a stop work order from the COTR.

Best way to get big is to start small and build a solid foundation and become a company that all levels of government can trust.

Do you all have any resources for getting started with contract bidding? Where to see open contracts? What it takes to be considered, legitimately? Thanks.

Not going to lie, thought this was someone from Cisco Webex posting a how-to on govt contracting.

Alas.

I know someone who first bid in county contracts, then on state, and now on federal. She says it was easier and quicker to talk to people at county levels so she could improve their bidding practices. With federal the process is less personal and as a new company it's hard to get access.

Also: For a small company it helps to be part women or minority owned because a certain percent of contracts has to go to these.

As a note...almost every state has an economic development office that can help with these questions for young or small businesses. Often they are associated with universities.

Frankly, they are hugely underutilized resources and are effectively free labor for dealing with government grants, contracting, etc.

Any independent sales agent who specialize in Govt sales/contract? . We are telecom service provider who can use your expertise and skill to bid govt contracts. feel free to email me.

Starting at the state or local level, or in the private sector, can be helpful, but many contractors have started directly in federal contracting, including, most recently, Nava and Ad Hoc.

If you want to get into federal contracting, you need to start networking and researching how a particular part of the federal government operates. Pick a particular department, and start there. The biggest spenders are the DoD, the VA, and CMS, so most people start out focusing on one of those agencies, although there may be some advantage of targeting a smaller agency where there will be less competition. It's hard to overstate how much of a vendor community there is around each of these agencies, but you can start following industry newsletters and events that are specific to any one of the above agencies, although most of them will be in the DC area.

The other thing to note is that almost everyone starts off in federal contracting as a subcontractor. It's fairly unusual for a company to land its first federal contract as a prime, and this would require substantial networking in DC. Your best bet is to start networking with contracting firms, and see if you can find a niche. Once you're inside an agency, you'll have a better sense of what your next steps should be, and how you would take the leap into bidding as a prime.

Finally, it's worth noting that the federal government has multiple small business programs that you can take advantage of. The most valuable and hardest to qualify for is the 8(a) program, but there's many others for veterans, minorities, and women. Also, no matter who your founders are, you can always qualify for the HUBZone program. However, to qualify for any of these programs, you're going to need to plan for that from the founding of your business.

Anyway, I hope that helps, let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Just going to leave this here: https://agile-bpa.18f.gov/orders/

As a data point, I know 2 friends who attempted contracts with the Federal Governement. Both went out of business. The problem is that the process moves soooo slooowly that you run out of money before you can close the contract. This was for hardware/software for military or 3 letter agencies.

I also had a little personal experience with the state level. It came as a surprise to me that they could kinda care less if you saved them money. Save them $100K? It just gets subtracted from their next years budget.