Every year, billions of dollars in government contracts are secured through the General Services Administration, or GSA. The GSA administers these procurements through its GSA Schedule program, in which the GSA contracts with suppliers for goods and services at a set price for specific time periods. Many companies rely solely on the GSA Schedule as a source of sales revenue, but there are drawbacks to that approach:
- Compared to other contracts, GSA contracts often have lower profit margins due to how services are priced and an increased level of competition.
- You will still need to market your products or services. Even if you have secured GSA contracts in the past, agencies won’t necessarily know about your services or contact you for new contracts.
- GSA contracts are very specific on prices.
- The initial setup of GSA contracts is very expensive. Many companies hire consultants for assistance, which can cost thousands of dollars.
- There are only a certain number of vendors allowed per GSA Schedule product or service.
- Not every government agency can buy from the GSA Schedule.
Luckily for you as a business, there are plenty of other government contracting opportunities besides the GSA's. The first critical step is finding out about them. The next is gaining the business intelligence that will help you strategize to win those contracts. To find out about new contracts, consider an electronic notification service that alerts you to government contracting opportunities as soon as they're announced.
These new contracts can be at the federal, state and local levels as well as with educational-establishment purchasing offices. With the right service, you can customize your notifications about bids, RFPs, grants, award data and more so that you receive information only about opportunities that are relevant to your business. Finding this information on your own would be too time-consuming and labor-intensive to be worthwhile.
An alternative to pursuing contracts is to network with key buyers and decision-makers so you can sell to them without having to go through a bid or RFP process. To go this route, seek out business intelligence to determine the important buyers that may be interested in the products or services you offer.
Finally, you will need to know as much as possible about the government marketplace to make intelligent business decisions. For example, you want to know which buyers and agencies have purchased products or services like yours in the past and how extensively your competition has done business in the market. You should also find out when relevant government contracts will be up for renewal, and where your business might have opportunities in the future.
