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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Column: Truth or Fiction: “If it’s in FBO, it’s too late”by Tom Johnson, publisher, Set-Aside AlertWe often hear the phrase, “If it’s in FedBizOpps, it’s too late,” but we shouldn’t always believe it. There are numerous situations where it is very profitable to bid on newly-posted opportunities in FedBizOpps (FBO). Let’s review the options. Commercial Items Products that are readily available in the commercial market, with established prices, are basically winnable by being the low bidder. It doesn’t matter whether you learned of the procurement a year in advance or an hour, if you understand the specs and are willing to be the “low-priced spread,” you have a good chance of winning that bid. As we approach fiscal year-end, this is particularly true and pencil-sharpening will be a key tool in winning contracts for commercial items during this period. Watch FBO especially for requirements that include items on GSA Schedule or other GWAC contracts. Appearance of these items in FBO may well mean that the contracting team has determined that they can anticipate better prices by going off the Schedule. Pay special attention to the specific product specifications, but also other terms and conditions such as delivery, packaging and offloading/installation. Nobody likes surprises, especially when you are expecting prompt payment. Services Opportunities in IT, professional and administrative services, facilities management and other services contracts do fit the perception. Because evaluation of these offers is often focused on past performance, team depth and other qualitative factors, it is necessary to target early, develop a capture strategy and create a winning proposal, and it’s difficult to do this if the opportunity has been published in FBO and the due date is short. FedBizOpps can help you get in ahead of the game. Sources Sought Notices, Requests for Information, posting of draft RFP statements of work - these are all tools to give you a heads-up, and put you in a position to catch up to and defeat the likely winner. Look for opportunities that have been awarded in the past to 8(a) companies (or other sole sources situations) – they may be graduating from the SBA business development program and no longer eligible to submit an offer. They may be ushering another firm and they think they have it locked. Note: No one has any opportunity “locked.” Construction Is it a design-build situation? A replacement of existing infrastructure (bridges, park roads)? Repair of existing structures? Facility maintenance (painting, plumbing, carpentry, roofing, electrical)? So many things can vary in this category. Design-build opportunities are often in the long-lead-time category, with preliminary design or site work already out on the street. Use FBO to identify the preliminary work for the project. Use FBO to connect with the Sources Sought and RFI notices, especially for plans, site visits, industry days and other preliminary work. If you miss the site visit, you may be excluded from bidding at all. Corps of Engineers MATOCs are more like services procurements: there is plenty of lead time if you do your homework. Many prospective bidders have done their research and know the competition and when the opportunity will be up for rebid. On the other hand, if the project is not very innovative (eg, replace a bridge, stripe a road, provide flaggers, repair/rebuild a weather-damaged facility, move some internal walls), the evaluation boils down to capability, rates, supply costs and overhead/profit. You probably have as good a shot as the next bidder, if you have a sharp pencil. Long lead-time FedBizOpps is the first place many opportunities are advertised. And a number of them appear in FBO with a reasonably long lead time. (Reality check: As you know, most don’t!) It is not unusual to see postings with four to eight weeks before offers are due. What’s long lead-time for your business? Five days? Two weeks? Six months? Do you even know? That’s the secret: know how much lead-time you’ll need to make an intelligent offer. In last week’s Contract Opportunities daily email, there were numerous opportunities for bids due a month or more into the future. Is this long enough for you to come up with a viable offer? What’s the net-net? Here’s where to focus:
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