Four Reasons to Invest in Public Sector Consulting

When the economy starts to turn south in the commercial sector, the public sector can start to look very appealing to a wide range of businesses. However, even if you know some of the government contracting basics, getting your own government contract and finding time to maintain contract compliance can be a large ordeal to take on yourself. As public sector consultants, we at Winvale help our clients acquire a GSA Schedule and offer maintenance and compliance assistance throughout the entire contract. With 17 years of experience, we’ve seen the many ways our clients have profited from public sector consultants.

Let’s examine how utilizing public sector consultants can be a worthwhile investment for you and you company:

1. Working with the Federal Government Can Be Quite Profitable.

In times of economic uncertainty, the government is still looking to buy commercial goods. The General Services Administration (GSA) is designed to continue working at all times to streamline federal acquisition, whether through a government shutdown or a global pandemic. 

As a self-funded agency, GSA continues its operations despite the state of the world around it. GSA contractors have actually seen an uptick in federal need in response to the COVID-19 crisis, so public sector contracting opportunities continue to grow. State and local entities also have increased need as they combat the Coronavirus, and because it was declared a national disaster, they can use the GSA Schedule to purchase disaster-related items through Disaster Purchasing. 

However, even when the world isn’t in the throes of a global pandemic, the public sector is a safe bet for contractors. While having a GSA Schedule doesn’t guarantee business, nor is it the only way to do business with the government, it can be a profitable experience when utilized correctly. 

Working with experienced public sector consultants can help you and your company identify and leverage key business opportunities like those found in the government Q4, coming up in July, when the government buys significantly more than the other quarters due to a “use it or lose it” mentality.

2. Working with the Public Sector Requires A Lot of Specialized Knowledge.

Entering the public sector requires a wide array of knowledge in government contracting. Outside of just the basics, there are pricing rules that companies must follow, ethics to be maintained—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! While GSA does a good job of offering training sessions to the public to help contractors educate themselves, it can be overly time-consuming for an individual at your company to learn a sufficient amount about the public sector. 

GSA contracting can be a niche field, and trying to learn as you go, whether in the acquisition stage or while trying to fulfill contract maintenance, can be frustrating and inefficient for your company. Public sector consultants can help you learn the alphabet of government contract acronyms, understand what requirements are necessary for your contract, and help keep your contract up to date. 

GSA is constantly changing, and an experienced GSA consultant will help you stay abreast of all of the necessary knowledge and updates relevant to you. 

3. Hiring an Individual In-House Can Be Financially Draining.

Working in public sector contracting can be a full-time job, but many small businesses cannot justify hiring a full-time employee to complete their Schedule Acquisition or to maintain their GSA Schedule. 

It’s a significant financial investment to hire someone on staff that has the necessary knowledge in GSA Schedule contracts, as government contracting experts are not easy to come by since the knowledge is so specialized. From a financial standpoint, it’s typically a better investment for your company to have a public sector consultant at the ready to help when you need to make changes to your government contract. 

Hiring a public sector consultant can help to keep your full-time employees focused on their main job duties, and simultaneously keep your mind at ease knowing that experts are helping to maintain such an important contract.

Related Article: How Much Does GSA Schedule Consulting Cost?

4. You Can Ensure You Won’t Be Caught Off-Guard By Compliance Issues.

The perfect consultant and client relationship is a team effort--working together to pair a client’s commercial practices to their public sector goals. Ideally, a consultant does most of the heavy-lifting and becomes an experienced guide as well as an educator for the client, resulting in a smoother experience with GSA. 

One thing that we pride ourselves on at Winvale is that we don’t simply take your documents and put them into the GSA format and submit them on your behalf. While we take on the lion’s share of the GSA Schedule acquisition and maintenance, we like to take time to educate our clients and ensure they are aware of all the areas in which contractors need to maintain compliance. 

A GSA Schedule contract is a long-term commitment, lasting as long as twenty years, so there is a significant amount of compliance measures to attend to, as well as record-keeping and modifying the contract to fit your current business needs and expertise. Many contractors may not fully understand what they are signing up for when they submit a GSA Schedule Subcontracting Plan or have an upcoming Contractor Assessment. 

When a GSA expert is no more than a phone call or email away, there are fewer concerns that compliance issues will sneak up on you.

Is Public Sector Consulting the Right Choice for You?

If your company is seriously considering getting into government contracting, weighing your options with public sector consulting is a must. Many companies find that government contracting consultants are worth the investment because not only do they help you obtain and maintain a GSA Schedule contract, but they also can help you discover public sector opportunities in your industry.

 Contact our team to see if it’s the right choice for you.