Have you made the most of the first quarter?

You’ve finished your warm ups and the National Anthem has been played, its game time. The first quarter is when you need to set the stage for the rest of the game. How is the next three quarters going to work out, do you know when you need to put your bench players in? Have you planned out what your attack strategy is? You want to know as much about the game that is being played and your opponent as possible.  

Unlike a basketball game when there are off days and an off season we don’t have that luxury so we use our first quarter for planning and answering as many questions as we can. Although there are a lot of variables that go into government purchasing being prepared as you can makes all the difference in the world. If you have not started planning it’s not too late.

You can start by answering the following questions:

• ·         What agencies purchase what you sell?
• ·         Who are your top competitors and what types of contracts do they hold?
• ·         What opportunities are being forecasted in your industry?

Those three questions will take some work to find the answer to but they will give you a good picture of your season and allows you to formulate your attack plan. 

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!"

― Benjamin Franklin

Forecasting for Fiscal Year 2015 has begun!

With the fiscal year starting up, contractors should be on the lookout for procurement forecasts for fiscal year 2015. Major federal agencies are posting procurement forecasts that can help your business plan for bids and proposals for FY15. www.Acquisition.gov is a great place to start when looking for forecasts. You can search by agency forecast or by business opportunities to find what your business should be anticipating.

Forecasting is also a great opportunity to be reach out to contracting officers who are working on opportunities that are of interest to you. Reaching out to contracting officers is one of the best ways to connect with the people who will be advising end-users and making decisions about proposal requirements. Contracting officers are always aware that specialized contractors have knowledge on subjects they may not and will require help writing overly technical solicitation if know a competent contractor who can help.  Take a look at our webinar: Contracting Officer Best Practices.

Forecasts offer a wealth of information for potential contractors. You can learn about the method of procurement, possible ceiling values, and incumbents. Method of procurement is vital knowledge when building an approach since if the opportunity is going through GSA, you have a wealth knowledge about pricing and competition at your disposal. Ceiling values are important factors, showing you an acceptable range to price your bid. If you are over the ceiling value, most likely you won’t win and it gives you time to adjust. Incumbents are a huge source of information as well. Your business can find out details about the work and the agency by getting in touch with the incumbent and learning about how they performed the work.

Most importantly, the key to good forecasting strategy is follow up, follow up, follow up! Some opportunities will be listed for the end of fiscal year 2015 or even the start of fiscal year 2016. The sure-fire trick is to keep your businesses’ name fresh in the mind of contracting officers. Follow up every couple months. Find out how you can help. Inquire whether any other opportunities are coming up last minute.

Procurement forecasts are a great (and often underutilized) tool in the contractor toolbox. Use it to its full advantage.