Our friends at GovFresh.com brought to our attention the availability of a series of video that the Department of Justice has produced that explains what FOIA is and how to make FOIA requests.

As any experienced government contractor or frequent GSA/Fed Marketing Blog reader could tell you, the GSA Schedule Contract is perhaps the single best option in Federal Contracting.  Such an individual would likely highlight some of the features unique to GSA Schedules.  Features like the pre-negotiated, government-wide contract terms which allow GSA Schedule Contract holders to literally cut to the front of the Federal Contracting line.  An experienced contractor might also remind you that government contracting officers simply prefer to contract with GSA scheduled firms. 

In a recent conversation, a GSA employee described the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or the FAR, as the government contracting officer’s Bible.  While this statement was surely hyperbole, the importance of the FAR in both the theoretical understanding and practical applications of federal contracting cannot be overestimated.  The FAR is in essence the set of rules under which federal contracting officers and federal contractors conduct their respective business.

Which of the GSA Schedules is best for your firm?

GSA has about 33 different GSA Schedules that have over 30million products and services. Usually the choice is pretty simple.  If you sell engineering services, you would pursue the Schedule 00CORP - the Professional Services Schedule (which absorbed many services schedules including the old Engineering Service Schedule (871)).  If you are a hardware store, you would choose the Hardware Superstore schedule  (Schedule 51 V).

Update on the New SBA WOSB Contracting Program

SBA will be holding a web chat session on March 31, 2011 at 1:00 pm (ET).  This session provides small businesses with an opportunity to discuss the new Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) federal contract program.  This program is designed to attract more woman owned small businesses into federal contracting.

For years government contractors have been using traditional marketing techniques to gain the attention of Federal clients.  Email blasts, direct mail, conferences and exhibitions, brochures, advertising have all been used to varying degrees of effectiveness.  But about ten years ago, the effectiveness of these traditional methods began to decline.  And in the past few years, their effectiveness has declined precipitously. But what has caused this decline?

First Month of Women Owned Small Business Set-Aside Program a Success

In January the GSA/Fed Marketing Blog reported on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s approval of a government contracting set-aside for Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs).  On October 7, 2010, the SBA published a final ruling to be effective on February 4, 2011.  The ruling created contracting directives in specific industries designed to channel 5% of all Federal-contracting dollars towards WOSBs.  For more information on this rule, please refer to the original post, “New Rule Sets Aside Billions for Women-Owned Small Business Contracts.” For an updated analysis of the program’s certification process, based on the first month of operations, please read on. 

Government contracting programs for small businesses have been the subject of much discussion lately, both in the news and here at the Fed Marketing Blog.  The long-awaited revision of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program, one of the most significant small business aid initiatives, has stirred this topic into focus.  As you may recall from last week’s blog entry, New SBA Final Rule Tightens 8a Contracting Restrictions, small business programs are stepping up efforts to eliminate abuse.  The SBA, who creates and monitors most of these efforts, maintains strict eligibility requirements. 

ABC - Always be closing… it’s a famous sales mantra.  But in order to close more government sales and obtain Federal contracts, you must first generate significant number of qualified leads.  And you cannot develop a significant amount of Federal sales leads before you first attract agencies to your firm.  This process of acquiring prospects, converting them into leads, and making them your Federal clients is known as the sales funnel and all deals begin with filling the top of the funnel.

The United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is an executive branch agency responsible for establishing policies to reduce, and hopefully eliminate, conflicts of interest between the federal government and its employees.  The OGE establishes regulations, standards of conduct, and training programs on the many forms of criminal ethics violations.  As you might imagine, the potential for conflicts of interest is high in government contracting.