Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch

What is an elevator pitch? An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that is designed to spark interest in an idea, product, or service. The term “elevator pitch” comes from the idea that if you were to find yourself in an elevator with a potential investor or customer, you would only have a short […]
7 Tips for Marketing in Government Contracting

Marketing to government agencies and prime contractors can be a bit different from marketing to other types of organizations or in the commercial space. In the government arena, winning can mean recession-proofing for a small business. When we think of doing business with “the government”, we sometimes envision this large, single entity. The reality is, […]
Avoiding 5 Common Pitfalls in Government Contracting

The first thing to know to prevent your procurement strategy from turning into a money pit is to make following the money a consistent part of your process. We won’t be getting into those tools today but feel free to check out our recent blog post for ideas on what tools to use. Mistake […]
5 Free Sites for Market Research in Government Contracting

USA Spending The most user-friendly in our opinion, usaspending.gov is the most underrated publicly available tool to access past federal spending data. It offers a user-friendly interface that is ideal for a first-time user, in comparison to its data source – the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). There is much more data available to you […]
Engage BEFORE You See a Solicitation

There comes the point in many instances where contractors are all but ripping their hair out, wondering why they never find anything on SAM.gov for what it is that they actually do. Sometimes it seems that the lead time to respond is a week or less. It seems impossible to do what needs to be […]
Leveraging State DBE Certifications in Federal Contracting

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Signed into law in October 2021, the $2B infrastructure bill will mean contracts and grants flowing down to small businesses through the states. This bill funds programs rather than projects. There will likely be multiple projects under each program, including the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Program, Nationally Significant Freight, […]
Department of Navy (DON) Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP)

About the MPP The Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) was started in the fiscal year 1991 in response to an abundance of contractors unable to meet their subcontracting goals. These prime contractors claimed there were not enough small businesses that can meet the requirements and expectations of performance. The program was designed to increase the small business […]
What is an Invitation for Bid (IFB) and Why is it Important?

An Invitation For Bid (IFB) is a document that a government entity uses to solicit bids from contractors in the marketplace and are oftentimes electronically transmitted via email from the federal government, to contractors during the market research phase of the procurement cycle. The best way to set yourself up to receive IFBs from the […]
Leveraging LinkedIn in Your Government Contracting Strategy

There are so many reasons but to avoid getting on my soapbox, I’ll cover the most important things to know about the free LinkedIn version that you’ll thank me later for (should you take the advice.) Starting with the overarching premise, the government contracting arena is more about relationships (80%) than solicitations (20%). It’s also […]
5 Essential Members of a GovCon Dream Team

The process of procuring a contract can be difficult because it requires expertise in various areas such as marketing, sales, and finance. A great government contracting team will need to have certain skills and traits. In this blog article, we’ll discuss who you’ll need to employ, and the qualities and abilities required to form a […]