Small Business Liaison Officers (OSDBU): How They Help
Every federal agency has an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization — an OSDBU — staffed by small business liaison officers whose job is to help small firms win federal work. For a new contractor, the OSDBU is the friendliest door into an agency: unlike a contracting officer, who must stay neutral between vendors, […]
How to Contact a Contracting Officer (the Right Way)
Every federal contract is awarded by a contracting officer — the one government official with the authority to sign a contract and spend public money. For a small business trying to break into federal contracting, the contracting officer is both the most important person to know and the hardest to reach. They are busy, they […]
Government Matchmaking Events: How to Prepare
A government matchmaking event is speed dating for federal contracting: a small business sits down with a buyer — a contracting officer, a prime contractor, or an agency small business liaison — for a short, scheduled meeting, then moves to the next table. In a single day you can meet ten or twenty people who […]
What Is an Industry Day and Should You Attend?
An industry day is a meeting an agency holds before issuing a solicitation — part briefing, part networking, part market research — and for a small contractor it is one of the best free opportunities in federal contracting. The agency explains what it plans to buy, how it plans to buy it, and what it […]
How to Use Past Award Data to Price Your Bid
Pricing is where most new federal contractors lose money — either by bidding too high and losing, or by bidding too low and winning a contract that bleeds cash for years. The antidote is past award data: the prices the government has actually paid for similar work, published for free in FPDS and USAspending.gov. A […]
How to Find Incumbent Contractors Before You Bid
Every re-compete has an incumbent — the firm currently doing the work — and that firm starts with advantages you do not have: they know the customer, the site, the quirks of the requirement, and the contracting officer. Bidding against an incumbent without knowing who they are, what they charge, and when their contract ends […]
How to Research Your Competitors’ Federal Contracts
In federal contracting, your competitors are not a mystery. Every contract they win is a public record: the agency, the value, the period, the vehicle, and the set-aside type are all published. A small business that researches its competitors properly can see exactly where rivals are strong, where they are stretched thin, and where they […]
USAspending.gov for Contractors: A Practical Guide
USAspending.gov is the federal government’s public spending database, and for a contractor it is the most approachable way to answer a deceptively simple question: who is spending money on what I sell? Every federal contract action recorded in FPDS flows into USAspending, where it is presented with charts, maps, and search tools designed for non-specialists. […]
FPDS Explained: How to Research Who Won Past Contracts
FPDS — the Federal Procurement Data System — is the federal government’s official record of who bought what, from whom, and for how much. Every federal contract action above a reporting threshold is recorded in FPDS, creating a public database of past awards that any contractor can search for free. For a firm preparing to […]
How to Find GSA Contract Opportunities
The General Services Administration plays two roles in federal contracting, and confusing them is the most common mistake newcomers make when looking for GSA contract opportunities. First, GSA is itself a buyer: it buys goods and services for its own operations, from building management for federal facilities to IT systems for its own staff. Second, […]