Selling to the Government—The Hard Part By Peter Adler Seneca Creek Consulting In a phrase, it’s all the hard part. For those enterprises who are considering entering the federal government marketplace, it is of paramount importance to understand the entire process from plans to procure to an executed contract with your firm. As with any new market, there is a necessary adoption of cultural understanding, lingo, and most importantly, buyers’ motivation in this new market space. Face-to-face contact with the prospective buyer is often difficult to achieve unless you already know decision-makers within the government or the prime contractors you wish to team with to pursue government opportunities. Expectations must be managed in order to align with the realities of this huge marketplace. We all read about major government contract expenditures, with information technology support contracts contributing $65+ billion in this one area alone. It should be noted that more than 50% of contract dollars in the IT arena are procured from the General Services Administration schedule contracts and other multiple award contracting vehicles like NIH CIO SP. While not absolutely essential, it is clear that a firm has a better opportunity to acquire government business if they are on one or more of these contracting vehicles that is already in place. Generally those firms that are new to this segment will bid requirements as a subcontractor to a larger prime contractor. Without a record of past performance in the government, this method provides one of the best means of approaching the market. If your business is in a set-aside category—small, 8(a), HUBZone, service-disabled veteran-owned—that can ease your path of entry. Did I say it is all hard when you enter this business? The real issue is that there are potentially huge rewards for those that are patient and are willing to work with the inherently slow government sales cycle. For more information, visit www.SenecaCreekConsulting.com.