Successfully qualifying government opportunities for your organizations pipeline is a vital step in becoming a successful government contractor. Like many things in life, the qualification stage in the government contracting process requires due diligence on your part to ensure that you can meet all of the stated requirements.

As your company searches for contracting opportunities in the federal marketplace, you have most likely come across a Request for Proposal (RFP). An RFP is a solicitation document to communicate the requirements and parameters of a government agency's needs, both products and services. An RFP often requires companies to convey the technical aspects of the proposal and address how their company will meet the government’s needs while offering the best value. Your response to the RFP needs to be highly detailed and precise, as RFPs are considered formal requests that could result in contract award. However, this is is easier said than done. There are a number of common mistakes that contractors fall into as they hunt for government contracts. Here’s what they are and how to avoid them.

Working with the General Services Administration (GSA) can be difficult. Many times, the information contractors need is already out there in the universe, released by GSA, but the trick is knowing where to find it. One of our specialties as GSA Schedule consultants is pinpointing the right resources for our clients and helping them learn how to use those tools. One of the most underutilized GSA tools is the Contract-Awarded Labor Category, or CALC, tool. The CALC tool is valuable to contractors by helping with market research, particularly for labor categories offered to GSA. Let’s dive in to understand more about the GSA CALC tool.

The Information Technology (IT) field is one of the largest and most competitive fields in federal contracting. Because of this, there are many contractors to compete with and consequently, a need to differentiate your business from others to be more successful in the federal marketplace. To do this, a savvy contractor needs to know the unique practices of GSA Schedule marketing.

We all know that impatient feeling we get when we order a package online—we immediately go to the tracking page to see exactly what time and day our item will be delivered, even if we just pressed “order.” Some companies go as far as to provide a map of the drivers so you can see just how far they are from your doorstep on delivery day. While government agencies may not be tracking their items quite so closely, they want to know where their products are when they order them from your GSA Schedule on GSA Advantage!. This is made possible by reporting your GSA Advantage! order status. However, some GSA contractors are not reporting their order status, resulting in concerned calls and impatience from government agencies wondering when their items will arrive.

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.