Everyone has questions! Here are the ones that we think you may have so we tried to answer them in advance.

Government contracting is selling your products and services to a local, state and/or federal government. It is done through a bidding process. There are guidelines and requirements to follow. In this way, it is different from commercial contracting where you would sell to another company or individual.

You may not want to pursue government contracts as your sole or your first source of business income. However, if you've done well in the commercial world then government contracting is worthwhile taking a look into. There are a few products and services that the government does not buy or may be tough to sell to the government. A suggestion would be to do initial market research to determine if the government buys what you sell. You can get started with a free SAM registration by clicking here.

Typically, selling a product is easier than selling a service to the government. It is easier to do market research on competitors and determine pricing. The key is to sell a product that is needed on an ongoing basis and can be used in multiple applications. This way you can sell to more than one government customer and diversify your government footprint. To get started on your own - search for Micro-purchase and Simplified Acquisition Threshold.

To get started you will need to have a "license" to do business with the government. This is called a SAM registration. With this registration, you will receive a few different identifiers, access to government tools, and in return the government will have a summary of your business. If interested, we offer a free SAM registration. Check it out by clicking here.

Yes it is possible to make a profit when selling to the government. There are a number of requirements to follow and many limitations that are different from selling to a business or individual. By doing appropriate market research, you will be able to make a profit.

The key to being profitable as a government contractor is through relationship building. Being knowledgeable of the process and requirements is another way. Know your customer.

A government contracting officer can use many different contract types. A few examples are listed below.

Definitive Contract: This contract type is used for a Specific one-time Scope and Price. 

IDIQ: Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract - if and how much a contracting officer awards you work is not determined. It is just a placeholder. Think of it this way - you can enter the room but you don't have a seat at the table yet or you have a garage (IDIQ contract) but not a car (work) yet.

OASIS: One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) 

STARS: The 8(a) Streamlined Technology Acquisition Resource for Services (STARS)

CIO-SP: The Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners

NASA SEWP: The NASA SEWP (Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement)

Additionally, there are firm-fixed price (FFP) where price is fixed, Time & Materials (T&M) based on labor hours and expenses, and Cost type contracts requiring more compliance.

It is recommended not to find government contracts. Rather, the best practice is to develop relationships through business development. Once you have gone through this activity, you can go to SAM.gov.

Start out by (1) learning the language - the acronyms used by the government, (2) research government tools, (3) learn the regulations, (4) check out and use free resources as a starting point, and (5) consult with someone that has experience. The last one is recommended to stay out of trouble. There are a number of things you can do when selling to another business or individual that could get you into legal trouble if you do the same with a government customer.

When doing business with the government instead of an individual or another business, you should consider ethics and compliance matters. Taking a government client out to dinner or paying for their coffee or giving them Christmas cookies will get you into trouble. When doing these things with non-government clients it seems customary to do so. When pricing your work for a government customer there are a lot of compliance matters to consider. Pricing non-government work has fewer compliance requirements for consideration. Selling to the government may actually be easier as they give you the tools and roadmap and requirements to win work with them. This is not necessarily the case when doing business with a non-government customer.

The main way that government contracting and commercial contracting are the same is that you must still do business development and market your business to both types of customers. On the backend, you must still do project management and invoice for payment.

By having a government contract, it offers your company an alternate source of revenue. Depending on which agency, you may also have a steady and reliable source of revenue. Being a government contractor requires more processes, ethics, compliance, quality control and strategy. For these reasons, you can use government contracting as a way to create credibility for your business when selling to an individual or another business.

While it is tough to be a government contractor, once you have won a contract there are many doors that open up for your business. It creates options for you.

A SAM registration is a "license" to do business with the government. For example, you can't start a construction business without having a license. You can't start a pharmacy without having a license. You can't have a restaurant without a license. So in the same way, you need a System for Award Management (SAM) registration to do business with the government. A SAM registration allows the government to know about your business. It identifies your company structure, location, contact info, what you sell and puts it in a format that the government needs. We offer this for free so click here to get your Free SAM registration.

The first thing you need to do in government contracting is a tie between (1) determine if there is a market for your product or service in the government space and (2) register your business with the government by obtaining a SAM registration. We offer this for free so click here to get your Free SAM registration.