Operators: Experience working with Government Contracts

March 03, 2020

by a searcher from The University of Chicago - Booth School of Business in Sacramento, CA, USA

Question for operators. Has anyone tried working with Government: Local, State or Federal?

I have registered myself on SAM and have a DUNS number, but I am looking for guidance on how to pursue government contracting.
Is it even worth it for a very small business to pursue government contracts or does the bureaucracy outweigh the benefits?

Please let me know if there are folks here that I can reach out to.

Thanks
Vijay

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Reply by a searcher
from Northwestern University in Los Gatos, CA, USA

We've got federal, state, county, and municipal contracts for recurring services. Generally they work pretty well and ,while they are often paperwork intensive to get started, our counterparties are generally all very nice and reasonable as long as you provide good and responsive service.

For state of CA, you will want to get yourself qualified as a small business with DGS (dgs.ca.gov)., and you can use that site and save searches to flag bidding opportunities for you. As a certified small business, you get a 5% pricing advantage.

For the feds, sounds like you are ready to get into FBO.gov to find some deals you can bid for.

For local, you should try county and city procurement sites.

Reply by an investor
from University of Pennsylvania in Washington, DC, USA

I'm a serial GovTech entrepreneur and exec. Personally I love GovTech businesses in the search model as they are tough customers to get but once with them they are sticky, pay their bills, and want to buy more products/services from you if treat them well. Any searchers looking at existing GovTech businesses, send me a note.

If you have 0% current gov business and trying to break into gov't, it can be done but like breaking into any new enterprise vertical (finance, health, etc) requires time and investment and strategy to match product/market. Happy to chat - sressler at gmail dot com.

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