• Tips to Enter the Federal

Space

• www.SalesAutomationSupport.com

• The Plan

• How Federal Set-asides can work for you • How to Register in the Federal space • How to Find Opportunities To Bid • How to Line Up a Winning Team • How to Gain Certainty in Your Bids • How to set up your Compliance Matrix • Bring all the pieces together

• Who is your largest customer?

• The World’s Largest Buyer • Total Spending in 2012 = $3.54 Trillion or

($3,540,000,000,000) • Vs: Walmart Sales of a mere $443,854,000,000

(The USG spends 7.98 times more than Walmart sells worldwide on an annual basis)

• The U.S. Federal Government

•Where Do You Fit In

?

• No matter your size, you could qualify for the Federal space!

• Federal Set-Aside Certifications

• Every federal government purchase anticipated to be valued from $2500 to $100,000 is automatically set-aside for small businesses as long as there are at least 2 companies that can provide the product/service. !!

• Contracts over $100,000 can be set aside if enough small businesses are able to do the work. !!

• Contracts over $500,000 have to include a small business subcontracting plan so that small businesses can get work under these large contracts.

• More Federal Set-Aside Certifications

• HUB Zone - designated “Historically Under-utilized Business Zone” !

• SBA 8(a) - Min. 2 yr old bus., Owner net worth < $250K, disadvantaged !

• Women-Owned - 51% plus owned by women (Fed. Goal 5%+ but short) !

• Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SDVO) - (Fed. Goal 3%+ but short) !

• Veteran Owned - Requires at least 51%+ Veteran Ownership !

• Small Disadvantaged Business - 51%+ Minority Ownership !

• Native American - Includes Tribes as well as Alaskan and Hawaiian Majority Ownership !

• HBCU / MI - Historically Black Colleges & Univ. - Minority Institutions

•“Solicitation” =

Federal lingo for “RFP”

• Research Funding

• Small Business Innovation Research/Small business Technology Transfer - The SBIR/STTR program was established to provide small companies with funding to develop products which have government and commercial potential. !

• SBIR’s are research grants to fund research and development efforts. !

• In 2005 federal agencies spent $1.85 billion on SBIR awards. !

• STTR is similar to SBIR except the company must partner with a university under an STTR. !

• Federal agencies with R&D expenditures over $100 million per year set aside 2.5% of the R&D funds for the SBIR program.

• Once upon a time• There was a woman owned business services company… • They were registered but not yet certified WBE… • Their stock ownership was clearly woman dominated… • Their management was clearly woman dominated… • But, when the certification results came back… Surprise!

• SAM.gov is where it all begins !• Create an account !

• Register (Plan Ahead- it will take you several hours.) !

• User Guides & Quick Start Guides in the Help Tab !

• Consolidates: CCR/FedReg, ORCA and EPLS !

• No Fee

• How to Register with the Federal Government?

• FBO.gov could become your best friend • Small Business Training Video • User Guides • Frequently Asked Questions • Watchlists & Search Agents • 26,666 Solicitations the last time I looked

@ >$10,000 • Enter Your NAICS Code and go Alice, time

is short

• How to Find Opportunities To Bid?

• How To Line Up A Winning Team

• GSA Mentor-Protégé Program • http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21983 !!!!!!

• Teaming Agreements • Joint Ventures • Find Other Interested Vendors on FBO.gov

• How to Gain Certainty in your Bids

• Follow best practices: • Compliance Matrix • Gap Analysis • Win Themes • Outline • Past Performance • Custom Detailed Technical Plans (Management, Safety, Transition, Staffing,

Project Gantt Charts) • Hire an Experienced Proposal Project Manager; Outsource • Reviews – Early & Often

• Custom Detailed Technical Plans • Management Plan • Safety Plan • Transition Plan • Staffing Plan • Project Plan - Gantt Charts

• Hire an Experienced Federal Proposal Project Manager; Outsource The Experience you Need

• Reviews – Early & Often

• How to Gain Certainty in your Bids - Continued

• To Find The Right Outsourced Proposal Development Team

• Look for wins • Look for Firm Fixed Price - Not To Exceed • Reputation - What Others Say • Listed in Interested Vendor Tab

• http://www.acquisition.gov/far/!!!

• http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/dfarspgi/current/!!!!

• http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vfdfar1.htm!!!!

• Federal Acquisition Regulations

• The Summary

• How to Register – SAM.gov • How to Find Opportunities To Bid – FBO.gov • How to Line Up A Winning Team - Interested

Vendors • How to Gain Certainty In Your Bids - Outsource

• Goals of a Persuasive Federal Proposal

1. Compliance 2. Easy-to-read 3. Consistently Well-Organized 4. Compelling

• Can my company fill the part?

• Do you have people in your organization that have produced similar results before and are responsible?

• Does your bid project manager have experience in Quality Assurance and/or Quality Control?

• Do you have the on-paper requirements, like the required degree?

• What are your business’s core competencies? What is your experience? What work have you produced before?

• Why are you applying for this? Where is your business going?

• The Compliance Matrix

• or Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) maps out the requirements of the RFP down to the volume, section, and page of the proposal where each

requirement is answered. !

• Make it as easy-to-read and as clear as possible!

• What should it look like?

1.RFP Sections 2.The Requirement 3.Volume, Section and Page

Number of proposal response• “No one will complain if you make something

too easy to understand.”

• BONUS

• Compliance Matrix Extra: a brief statement of HOW you comply (makes evaluator’s job easier) !

• EXAMPLE: If an RFP had a requirement that 50% of staff were Comp TIA A+ certified and 100% of your staff are certified, your Compliance Summary could read: “Technical Staff is 100% Comp TIA A+ certified.”

•

Make your entire

proposal as easy

to read as possible!

• “Building your Compliance Matrix at the end of the writing effort is like waiting until the house is built before drawing up the blueprints. The Compliance Matrix, like the outline of the proposal itself, should precisely parallel the structure of the RFP and should be developed in tandem with the proposal outline before storyboarding and writing even begin.”

• Create as you go

• Additional Docs You May Need

www.pandadoc.com/templates

• How Quote Roller can help close Federal Deals

• Know which sections evaluator is examining to prepare for objections during presentation

• Prepare beautiful web-based and PDF versions • Organize all in cloud • Collaborate with team members, communicating on the

proposal • Drag & drop easily into sleek, organized proposal • Arrange with HTML, Excel, images, etc., then quickly pull

all together • Prepare proposals 8 times faster than other ways!

• SalesAutomationSupport.com

• QuoteRoller.com

• Sign up for Quote Roller and Sales Automation Support today!

• The perfect pair to streamline & automate your sales!