TurboGSA Publishes New EBook

A GSA schedule contract remains one of the best contracting vehicles for small businesses that want to sell commercial products and services to the federal government.  In fact, a recent analysis by TurboGSA; a leading GSA consultant, finds that about $15 billion a year goes directly to small businesses through GSA schedules. Federal agencies are keen to buy from GSA approved vendors because it simplifies the buying process for them and they know that the vendor has been determined to be a credible vendor by GSA.  But despite its popularity with agency buyers, there is some confusion in the market about this program and many small businesses still do not understand the basics of getting a GSA contract.

How Small Businesses Use Innovation to Thrive in Federal Contracting

I recently read an article in USA Today about how federal agencies are coming to realize that small businesses are innovation hubs whose creativity allowed them to deliver better solutions more cheaply.  The article discusses how NASA used a small, 40-person firm, Honeybee Robotics, to develop a robotic lab assistant for the Mars Curiosity Rover.  Some very important lessons can be learned and applied to small businesses seeking federal contracts in other industries.

Since 2009, thousands of small businesses have weathered the economic storm by taking advantage of federal programs designed to channel federal contracts to small firms.  Two of the more valuable programs include the GSA schedule program and the Simplified Acquisition Procedure program. 

If you’re fortunate enough to have been awarded a General Services Administration (GSA) contract, you should be pleased. After all, only about two percent of firms that work with the government hold a GSA contract. While this is an achievement, most executives now ask, “What’s next? How do I get a piece of this $39 billion pie?”

SBA has posted a free online course called,   The HUBZone Primer.”   The HUBZone program is designed to help small businesses ‐‐in certain urban, rural, BRAC, Indian reservation, and difficult development areas outside the U.S. mainland – to gain access to federal procurement opportunities. HUBZone areas are typically areas of low median household incomes or high unemployment, or both.  There are some 6,000 small firms certified in the HUBZone program.

Market Connection released its excellent 2012 Federal Media and Marketing Study, which presented facts and figures on how senior Federal decision-makers and employees obtain their news and information.  The purpose of the report is to aid subscribers in designing  federal marketing campaigns and selecting media outlets that are appropriate to the buyers preferences. I really like the demographics of the report, as 82% are aged 45 or higher, which suggests that these respondents are likely to have lots of authority or influence in their respective agencies.

As some of you may have discovered if you recently tried to update your GSA supply catalog, you may get a notice that UPC codes are required on products listed under certain SINS when uploading to GSA Advantage. 

I wrote a guest blog article for Vistage, a leading peer advising, private mentoring, and executive development firm with a nation-wide clientele.   The article discusses the benefits and challenges of federal contracting and outlines five key programs for landing federal work:

Numerous  federal marketing experts such as Mark Amtower have been encouraging government contractors to increase their use of social media for several years now, and for good reasons.   Social media marketing helps you connect with agency users and buyers, establishes your firm as a thought leader, helps build brand, and generate leads.

Many firms come to us seeking to obtain a GSA contract. We always explore the reasons why a business wants to obtain a GSA contract, to make sure it makes sense for them.  The most obvious reason is that small businesses are seeking to obtain more sales from Federal agencies and believe a GSA contract can help. But digging deeper, at times we find that a GSA Schedule would not be appropriate for some firms. However, we often hear many good reasons why the company is seeking a GSA contract.  Here are ten reasons frequently given for why they are looking for a GSA contract.