Government Projects 6

[askdg]

We are an established civil and marine engineering firm, primarly dealing with private developers. I have been tasked with finding the best way to break into government work, specifically federal. I have found plenty of complicated reports and numerous seminars, but only one "good" contact to date. Does anyone have any tips on how to proceed and/or any suggestions on which seminars are actually useful?

 

[mshimko]

WHile I agree taking the potential customer to court is not a good marketing strategy,

...neither is just blaming a failed proposal on "The other guy got the work because he was pre-selected in the first place and anything that I or anyone else did would not matter".

All in all, most likely your proposal wasn't as good as you thought; and we've all been there!

//mjs

 

[boo1]

Agree with mshimko, I have reviewed many proposals where one key element (or more) was missed. This made the companys rating unacceptable and was dismissed with out further evaluation.

 

[RDK]

In my case the proposal was good and solid. We covered all the elements and should have moved on to the price part of the competition.

Remember I have worked as a paid proposal writer on some very large long term proposals. I also have been on the other side receiving and reviewing proposals and know how to write one to meet the requirements. I know enough to check each line in the proposal against each line in the request to ensure that some minor technical glitch does not sink the proposal right at the start.

We were eliminated from competition because the qualification was based on my firm’s history as the prime consultant and not on the history of the complete team. The government guy said that because I could not show that my company had not done, under my new business, almost the exact same thing that I was not qualified. They did not even look at the qualifications of the remainder of the team.



Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[boo1]

I have been involved several source selections, there must be some thing in your package that sets the red flag. Consider teaming with another firm to gain the "right experience on paper", or bidding on a differnt segment of Gov. work.

After award of the contract the other bid packages should be available through the Freedom of Information Act.

 

[mshimko]

A bit of inconsistency above, RDK;

- "We were eliminated from competition because the qualification was based on my firm’s history as the prime consultant and not on the history of the complete team."
- "All I got back was that they did not consider me qualified for the work. No explanation..."
- "The other guy got the work because he was pre-selected in the first place and anything that I or anyone else did would not matter"

Three posts; three different reasons (or non-reasons). I'll stand by my previous view, written in different words here - if you fail to get an award, it's because the other guy provided something better than you did, and you need to determine what that was so you can submit a better proposal next time - or get into a different business.

 

[Prepakt1]

To get work with any large organization or Government you need references. Usually you need to be recommended by consultants or have done some work for the client in the past.Just to go in and tender for a large project sometimes works, but usually you are not sucessful . The other bidders will have a prevoius history with the client or engineering consultants.
Sometimes companies are too proud or large to consider small goverment work. I once offered a friend of mine, a fairly large contractor, a project on a major petrochemical plant. A pumphouse for $10,000 that none of our other civil contractors wanted to undertake. He turned up his nose at such a small contract but eventually completed the work on my advice.
Completing that small project meant that he was then an approved contractor . He was then able to bid on all the plants civil projects and awarded $20 millon in the next 3 years.
Civil servents are never blamed for using a company thats
performed well in the past. If on the other hand they bring in someone new and a problem occurs they get all kinds of flack.


Intrusion Prepakt

http://www.marineconcrete.com