If your company is based outside of the U.S., you may be wondering how you can do business with the U.S. federal government. For foreign companies who plan to use a government contracting vehicle to sell to government agencies, acquiring a NATO Commercial and Government Entity Code (NCAGE Code) and registering your company in the System for Award Management (SAM) are the first two crucial steps you will need to take. In this blog we’ll cover what you need to know about NCAGE Codes, who needs one, and how to register.

It’s well known that you can sell to the federal government through the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program, but you can also sell to state, local, and tribal governments under certain circumstances. Some states even have their own MAS contract vehicles that are the preferred medium of procurement. A great example of this is the California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS), a special contract vehicle for state and local entities in California. This is a popular vehicle and is often overlooked by GSA contractors. In this blog we’ll share with you what CMAS is and how it could be beneficial for your GSA Schedule.

The focus on buying American has continued in full force under the Biden Administration and will only continue to grow. The federal contracting landscape is constantly shifting, and there have been several domestic procurement policies introduced recently that will directly affect GSA contractors. From the Infrastructure Bill to the Buy American Act and the Berry Amendment, we’ll round up all the recent legislation that is contributing to a stronger focus on buying American products, so you are well aware of what’s coming.

When you are looking for contracting opportunities, you can run into a lot of different acronyms. At first glance, your head might swim trying to figure out the difference between Requests for Information (RFI), Requests for Quotes (RFQ), and Requests for Proposal (RFP). While all three are involved in the solicitation process, each one has its own role in shaping the government’s procurement process. In this article, we will break down the difference between RFQs, RFPs, and RFIs, provide tips on creating an effective response that stands out from the crowd, and how to avoid the easy mistakes that get your proposal in a Contracting Officer’s waste bin.

Small businesses play an integral role in federal procurement, and in 2022, there has been a strong push to focus on small business prioritization. One of the recent initiatives to improve the procurement process for small businesses is the PRICE Act. President Biden recently signed the Promoting Rigorous and Innovative Cost Efficiencies for Federal Procurement and Acquisitions Act (PRICE) Act, which would expand opportunities for small businesses to work with the federal government.

In your journey through the alphabet soup of federal contracting, you may have come across the terms BPA and IDIQ. These stand for Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) and Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) respectively. Both terms describe a type of contract vehicle that can be used for multiple orders, but they are not interchangeable categories. When considering contract vehicle options, what are the differences between a BPA and an IDIQ? In this blog, we’ll compare and contrast BPAs and IDIQs so you can become familiar with these two contract vehicle types, allowing you to examine future contracting opportunities with confidence. To start with, we will establish what exactly BPAs and IDIQs are.