Navigating the intricacies of government contracting is an important skill for businesses seeking to expand their presence in the federal market. While both federal and commercial avenues offer opportunities for growth and profitability, they come with their own unique sets of challenges and strategies. You’re most likely very familiar with the commercial world now, but may not have as much experience selling to the government. In this blog, we'll dive into the differences between selling to the government vs. commercially to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of how you can succeed in the government market.

Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity or IDIQ are terms that are often used when doing business with the federal government through the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program. IDIQ may might just sound like any other random government contracting acronym to you, but it is an important term to remember.

If you are a current GSA contractor or potentially looking to sell products or services on the GSA Schedule, you’ll need to know how to find opportunities in your industry. Federal contracting requires research into potential costs, benefits, and initiatives like any other business decision. As a GSA Schedule Contractor, the North American Industry Classification System codes (NAICS) can help you better concisely comprehend what opportunities exist in your field for success in the federal marketplace, and can help your company determine if you are considered a small business.

As a GSA contractor, you may have spent have spent endless hours in Schedule Input Program (SIP) in an attempt to upload your latest catalog update to GSA. However, after receiving feedback and hearing current contractors’ frustrations with the program, GSA has decided to sunset SIP and introduce the Common Catalog Platform (CCP). The goal of this platform will be to streamline and improve catalog management for both contractors and Contracting Officers. In this blog, we have detailed some aspects of how contractors will be able to utilize the CCP when updating their catalog for GSA, what the Product File is, and how contractors will be provided a Compliance and Pricing report.

The short answer is yes, you can participate in government bids without a GSA Schedule. However, it’s much more nuanced than that, and you can be missing out on huge opportunities within the federal marketplace. Open market sales to the federal government take much longer and can be more costly than sales through a government contracting vehicle, and other vehicles are not as flexible or available.

The government contracting world can be challenging—there are lots of rules and regulations to keep track of, billions of dollars being spent through various procurement methods, and tough competition among established contractors. We often hear the question “how do we make a name of ourselves amongst all of this?” from many new businesses who are wanting to break into the federal market.