6 Mistakes To Avoid When You Bid For ITES-Chess Contract

An adequate bid requires more than just pulling together some figures and filling out a form. It isn’t advisable to compile a complete bid if you don’t have the time to do so. Bidding on a project is not always a good business decision. You may benefit more by not bidding than submitting the last-minute, haphazard bid.

• Before you jump into submitting many proposals, start by getting to know your target customers. Each agency and even each contracting officer has its way of doing things.
• Once you identify the agencies you’re targeting based on the product or service you sell, research how those agencies find and invite other companies to participate.
• And most importantly, run a check on how they award contracts because each agency is different, and each buyer is different.

Relying on Bid Matching Boards

Many bid matching services will send you daily emails of contract opportunities that match your search criteria. And for lots of companies, their business development strategy is to review these emails and then write the very best proposals they possibly can.

But this is a mistake. You need to be further upstream.

• Develop Relationships in the pre-acquisition planning phase.
• Discover what government agencies are looking for and let them know about your company.
• Get in at the planning stage because many times, if you wait until the acquisition phase, it’s already too late.
• The way to win is to spend less time writing proposals and more time interacting with potential customers and with potential partners.

Failing To Build Relationships With Potential Subcontractors

Many small businesses get their start in government work by subcontracting with large government contractors, and then they go on to build long-term relationships with those firms. Developing strong relationships is one of the keys to success in government contracting.

However, it can be challenging to find out what subcontractors charge. While you want competitive pricing from your subcontractors, you also want assurance that they will do the work efficiently. It does not matter if it is your first time working with a subcontractor or one you have worked with for many years.

The best solution would be to create a prequalification process for subcontractors. As a result, you can get a clearer picture of the type of work they are capable of performing by evaluating their quality and past performance.

Not Adhering To The Solicitation Precisely

Do not invest time and money on a contract only to discover later that you don’t qualify to bid on it.

Failing to follow some instructions can result in your proposal being deemed non-responsive, which is the government’s way of saying they’re throwing out your proposal without consideration.

Many people learn this lesson the hard way. They spend enormous time preparing a brilliant proposal, only to throw it out because of a minor technicality.

To prevent this:

• Read all the terms and conditions before moving on to the statement of work or instructions to offers.
• You can streamline the eligibility criteria (and other nullifying nuances associated with government contracts) by allowing yourself enough time before the proposal deadline.
• You can also create a compliance matrix, which lists every requirement in the Solicitation and identifies the proposal’s location where the response appears.

Automatically Investing in GSA Schedules

If you’ve already registered on System for Award Management (SAM), you’ve probably started receiving lots of sales pitches from companies offering General Services Administration (GSA) contracts. Some of them will tell you need a GSA schedule. Others promise you easy no-bid contracts.

So, let’s be clear about what they’re offering. These companies are offering to help you get on the GSA schedule. A GSA Schedule is not revenue. If you’re awarded a GSA schedule, that means you now have the right to compete for GSA opportunities with other GSA schedule holders.

Now, this might be a great decision for you. Maybe the contracting officer you work with puts out all their bids on GSA. So, you need a GSA schedule to compete for that work. But also maybe the agency and contracting officer you want to work with prefer other contract vehicles. They may not use GSA schedules to purchase what you sell.

So, getting a GSA schedule might be great for your business, but it takes a lot of time spent filling out forms and jumping through lots of government hoops. And many businesses make this investment get on the GSA schedule and then never receive a dollar in GSA sales. So, don’t jump into this blindly. Instead, do the research first and determine how government agencies purchase what you sell.

Having Too Much Faith In Socio-Economic Profile

There’s a typical misconception that acquiring a socio-economic profile like an 8(a) accreditation or qualifying as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB) is identical to a permit to win government contracts. It’s not 100 percent misleading, but it’s also not all that straightforward.