So what is a Capabilities Statement? If you are have attended any procurement conferences or agency training sessions, you undoubtedly have heard people recommend developing a capability statement.   A government capability statement is an essential tool for federal business developers to use in developing a relationship with federal agencies, prime contractors, or potential teaming partners. It has become a marketing prerequisite for talking with federal buyers.

I have received a few calls and emails from a few clients about an email they received from the SAM Administrator at SAM.gov about potential fraud.  Some were concerned about whether this was real or some registration scam.

GSA Schedules have been a popular contract vehicle for large and small businesses alike, but in recent years, small business has grown its share of GSA schedule sales significantly since 2013. That year, the height of sequestration, cutbacks, and reduction of wartime spending, the small business share of GSA sales was 32%.  For fiscal year 2016, that had grown to 43%; sales have grown from $11.4 billion in FY2013 to $13.5 billion in FY2016. Remarkable!

GSA has modernized its multiple-award schedule vehicle for human resource services to address contract redundancy and streamline the acquisition process for such service offerings.

Many firms obtain a GSA Schedule to gain an advantage in the government market. Companies put serious effort into acquiring the contract but unfortunately, less effort into training sales, marketing, and business development reps on how to use it effectively.  The results are sadly predictable.  Too many either languish in the lowest sales tiers, barely meeting the required $25,000 per year sales criteria to maintain the contract.  Worse, many others fail to reach even that threshold.

Research Your GSA Competitors

I understand why companies think government contracting seems so complicated.  They have been told to take a few simple steps, and then contracts will roll in. The most frequently mentioned 10 best practices for winning government contracts include:

A GSA contract can help you increase government sales. You know it, your salespeople know it, but sometimes the boss does not. As your firm’s business development manager, you know that GSA schedules are a critical tool to have in your business development toolbox.  But your boss is reticent. She prefers to wait until the next quarter or the quarter after. Or perhaps they prefer to have you focus on chasing RFPs, which is about as effective as playing Powerball!

The Federal Buyer’s Journey

Many contractors face the challenges of determining their place in the federal market and identifying how to pursue business. An important step in figuring this out is:

You will likely make several different types of changes to your GSA Contract during the 5 to 20-year period.  Your agreement with GSA is intended to be a living document, keeping up with changing times.

We tend to look at the modifications in three different ways:

• Refresh
• Revise
• Reinforce

The federal market is huge, and thousands of contracts are issued every year that has a value in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The bid packages used by the government usually contain a set of documents to which a bidder develops a responsive proposal. The four main types of solicitations are: