Back-to-School Lessons on Government Bidding

It’s that time of year again, when kids, parents, and school faculty are gearing up for back to school all across the country. This year, as you are getting your kids ready for the new school year, take some time for a bit of government bidding reminders (don’t worry, there’s no quiz at the end!).

Reading The Documents and Writing The Response: English Language Arts

Our first class is English Language Arts (ELA), or you may still think of it as reading & writing. ELA is a very large part of government bidding. It is very important to read all documents attached to an open bid opportunity thoroughly to ensure that you can do the job and want to submit a proposal. In addition, please make certain to read all addenda which may include changes or updates to the solicitation. Often, you can get alerted of the addendum, communication, and awards attached to a specific solicitation through a service such as Bidnet Direct.

After you have read all the documents, ask any questions that you may have. Most government buyers will have an open Q&A period in which suppliers can ask questions and get clarifications on anything within the solicitation documents that may not have been clear.

Next is the writing portion of our class. If you decide to move forward and give yourself a chance to win business with the government, you’ll need to write a proposal. You must follow the guidelines outlined in the bid documents for your written response. If applicable, use any pre-formatted templates that the government buyer has attached. There is often a request for information about your company, a requirement of at least three professional references, and even some of your team members you plan to use for the job. This is a good piece of written material to have on hand and re-use with every response, even if you need to tweak it slightly. Both reading the documents within an open bid and writing the response take time and effort. Make certain that you‘re prepared and give yourself enough time to write the response before the closing date!

Pricing In Government Bidding: Mathematics

Other solicitations may have less writing involved and only require pricing. This brings us to our next class period, Math. Pricing is an important part of the bid response. Your price point is compared against other suppliers along with details of your response, such as the solution for completing the job, and various other factors used to decide on the award through an evaluation process by government buyers. Depending on the request, some open bids will only require line-item pricing. For these solicitations, your price is the most important factor along with meeting the OEM and/or other specifications of the required items. For other RFPs, often the overall benefits and solutions to the buying organization’s needs play as much a role as pricing does. Knowing how to be competitive, while still making your time and effort worthwhile is very important in government bidding.

Knowing About Previous Bids: History

Is there a way to know what previous contracts were awarded to know if your pricing and offers are competitive? Why yes there is! Learning all about closed solicitations, and those with awards published is simple just by using the advanced search feature on Bidnet Direct. This history lesson can tell you a lot about the volume of opportunities over a specific time, the specifications needed and how they have changed, and the pricing/awarded value. Looking into the past to plan for your future bid responses is a great way to prepare and be ahead of the competition.

Experiment With What Works: Science

To help you find more relevant and targeted bid opportunities, you can experiment with keywords and search in other geographic areas using advanced search as well. This will help you understand the demand for your product or services and where it may be higher within other locations throughout the country. Also, if you are thinking about expanding your service or product offering, utilize the search for open and closed bids by keywords or NIGP codes.

In addition, experiment with your NIGP codes and keyword searches even if you are limited to one product and region. Remember, buying organizations select both the NIGP codes and the description/title of a solicitation. This can mean that terms and categories you may not have thought of will have great matches for your business.

Getting the perfect mix of category codes, location and keywords can be a bit of an art or science. Test out different saved searches on Bidnet Direct to see what works for your business.

While you send your kids back to school this Fall, remind yourself that sometimes you also need a little refresher lesson on how to find open opportunities. Make certain to bookmark the Resources section and find helpful tips and videos to continue your government bidding education.