Certification & Procurement: Losing the Bidding War for Government Contracts
Losing the Bidding War for Government Contracts Read carefully and follow instructions explicitly to avoid being a “non-responsive” proposal.
By Dewayne Long
Depending upon which procurement analyst or congressional committee you listen to, somewhere between $317 billion and $420 billion dollars were awarded in federal government contracts last year. And as Everett Dirksen, the former representative and senator from Illinois, is quoted as saying, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you are talking about real money.” The point is, these are staggering numbers.. Many owners want to know what they can do to increase their chances of winning more government contracts. Fortunately, the answer and remedy to that issue is within your control. Following are some of the mistakes small business people most often make in the proposal process. Read the Document Small business people sometimes do not take the time to carefully read the entire request for proposal (RFP) document and its attachments. Yeah, the reading is boring. However, it is absolutely critical to success. Even in circumstances where price is the determining factor (and that happens less frequently than you might think), you can bet that it is often not the only factor. Depending upon the commodity to be purchased and the complexity of the procurement, there are often other factors that will be evaluated or weighted in determining the successful proposal. As an example, “off the shelf” items (i.e., copy machines or paper) are much easier to define; and once the specification is established, price and delivery time may be the only factors the government considers. But when procurements for goods or services of a more technical nature are involved, such as engineering services, environmental remediation or construction, price and delivery may be only two of the determining factors. Issues such as an adequate quality control program, experience in the industry, previous jobs of the same or similar nature and technical personnel requirements (key personnel) may also be considered. Each of these performance requirements, if applicable, is set forth in the RFP and won’t be known to bidders who don’t read the document. Follow Document Instructions It is very appealing to start off your review of the request for proposal by reading the statement of work and the pricing and delivery articles. With visions of sugarplums dancing in your head, you may be tempted to go directly to the “goodies” and dream of big dollar sales. That’s OK if you want to make this the first step in the journey. But if you don’t read the entire document, as well as all clauses and paragraphs incorporated by reference, you’ll most assuredly miss critically important requirements. Requests for proposal often provide formatting instructions and RFP reviewers expect to see that format used. Failure to do so may render your proposal “non-responsive” and may cause your offering to be thrown out. If you don’t understand something included in the RFP, don’t hesitate to contact the contract administrator. Contract administrators would much rather answer your questions during the preparation process than receive a pile of proposals that don‘t meet the requirements of the anticipated procurement. Submit Your Proposal On Time The single most annoying thing for a buyer, contract administrator or reviewer is receiving a proposal a day, or longer, after the bid is due. By definition, a late proposal can be considered non-responsive and is a candidate for automatic discard. Each request for proposal shows the due date for submission, and that date is generally absolute (unless extended by the buyer). Make sure that your proposal package is completed, reviewed (and reviewed again) and then submitted at least a week (if possible) in advance of the proposal due date. Also, make sure you allow ample time for the postal or delivery service to deliver your document before the due date. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t receive an award for every proposal you submit— there is just too much competition to win them all. But if you pay attention to the basics, you should find that your chances of submitting a successful proposal will be significantly enhanced. Remember, winning government contracts is a learning experience. The more you do it, the better your chances of winning. For help getting involved in government contracting or advice on bid preparation and review, contact Dewayne Long at the Heartland Procurement Technical Assistance Center. Heartland PTAC is a not-for-profit program that provides many of these types of service free. You can reach Long at (816) 235-2891 ext.1 or at
.
