Government Contracting

How to Win Business as a Small to Mid-Sized Government Contractor

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO GET STARTED IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING?

Getting started in government contracting can be complex, from finding a good-fit contracting opportunity for your business and submitting a winning bid or proposal, to staying in compliance throughout the length of the contract and getting paid for your efforts. One way to get ahead is to arm yourself with information and analysis related to the government contracting lifecycle as you begin exploring new opportunities to do business with the government.

HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN THE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING LIFECYCLE?

To succeed in government contracting you need to understand the stages of a government opportunity, from start to finish, and what your business needs to do at each stage. Below are the stages a typical contract goes through.

Pre-RFP: Government plans to spend on a project

Solicitation: Opportunity goes out to bid or RFP

Proposal Preparation: Contractors create a proposal to win the business

Contract Award: Government awards the winning vendor(s)

Contract Fulfillment: Business begins to provide products or services

Performance Monitoring: Business manages and monitors the delivery of the product or service

Audits/Compliance: Business passes audits by remaining compliant

Contract Completion: Contract period ends and cycle begins again

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO FIND GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS?

Federal Government Contracts:

Federal government agencies use several methods of advertising their intent to spend money, including socioeconomic set-aside programs and government websites such as SAM.gov. Sometimes agencies also offer a preview of coming solicitations by hosting industry days. In order to find federal government contracts that best match your company’s core competencies, you’ll want to determine which agencies have the most best-fit opportunities.

However, relying exclusively on government websites to find federal government contracts can be a time-consuming and lengthy process. Though most federal contracting opportunities appear on SAM.gov or other government websites, private companies like Deltek have tools such as GovWin IQ that track likely opportunities up to five years before a bid or a request for proposal (RFP) is actually issued. The best way to find federal government contracts is to leverage these tools to identify federal spending areas well in advance, then prepare your company’s go-to-market strategy for when those opportunities are released.

State & Local Government Contracts:

State and local (SLED) government agencies spend more than a trillion dollars every year, so devoting time and energy to building a SLED market business plan is well worth the effort. If you are wondering how to find state and local government contracts that align to your business, your first step should be to determine which levels of government you want to sell to, and which regions are best fits. Then find those agencies and register to business with them by signing up for their procurement portals, which differ by state. You can save time by signing up for a government business development tool like GovWin IQ that can track opportunities from each of those agencies you are targeting.

Once you have defined your target governments, you need to understand how and when they spend. Unlike the federal government, SLED agencies set their own fiscal year schedules and their spending patterns often align with their state’s fiscal year start and end dates. It’s important to understand your target agencies’ fiscal year and spending patterns to pinpoint when you will find the most best-fit government contracts from those agencies.

WHATS THE BEST WAY TO FIND SMALL BUSINESS GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

If you meet the definition of a small business you may have access to a wealth of small business government contracts. Governments offer a number of small business set-aside contracts through a variety of programs:

8(a) Business Development
Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Programs
Minority-Owned Small Business (MOSB) Programs
Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business (SDVOSB) Programs
All Small Mentor-Protégé Program

Small businesses often break into new fields or gain contracting experience through subcontracting, and serving on a prime contractor’s team (teaming). It is a way of getting experience that often allows you to avoid some of the complicated compliance requirements and challenges competing against more established vendors, yet gaining some experience and past performance. Searching for opportunities from one of the above programs, or seeking out teaming and subcontracting opportunities, can help you find small business government contracts that best match up with your company’s strengths.

HOW DO YOU BID ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS?

Once you have identified the types of government contracting methods and vehicles that exist in the market, you should follow these steps and take action.

Select the methods and bid opportunities that best suit your business. Determine whether you are best suited to pursue a large contract, an opportunity as part of a bigger vehicle or subcontracting or teaming opportunity, and develop a list of target agencies.
Determine which socioeconomic categories, if any, fit your business. These might include designations like women-owned (WOSB), service-disabled veteran-owned (SDVOSB) or minority-owned (MOSB). These categories can give you a big advantage.
Identify your target opportunities – and pursue them. You can often find those opportunities through tools like GovWin IQ, the industry’s leading platform to help you find government contract bids and gain awareness of upcoming opportunities up to five years before the solicitation is even released.
Submit a strong proposal. Make sure to highlight your company’s core competencies and outline why your business stands out. You can also leverage market intelligence to differentiate your offering from those of the competition.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO SEARCH FOR GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS?

While government websites can be sources to search information on the basic elements of government contracting, like bids and RFPs, companies succeeding at selling to the government are taking proactive steps to go beyond the basics to find all of the information they need.

The best way to search for government contracts is to identify keywords and phrases that align to your business. Leveraging a market intelligence platform like GovWin IQ can help you quickly identify upcoming opportunities that truly match your team’s capabilities, so that you’re not wasting your time scouring hundreds of opportunities to find the ones that are perfect for your team.

HOW DO YOU WIN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS?

After identifying and pursuing opportunities that fit your business, there are specific tactics you can take to connect with the right decision makers and put your best foot forward in order to beat out the competition and win a government contract. By being proactive, getting ahead of the bid or RFP, and putting your business in a position to win, you can ensure a steady stream of revenue from your government business.

For more information, contact us today.

The Most Important Reason to Automate Payments Now

Written by Derek Halpern, Nvoicepay

A funny thing happened while I was writing this article. While I conversed with our editorial consultant on how to approach the struggles companies are facing in the current global climate, she received this email:

The names are changed for privacy purposes.

The email’s writer, “John,” is not the only accounts payable (AP) professional sending out emails like this. We’re in uncharted territory, and the rules are changing every day. But one thing we know for sure is that payments will always have to go out and that with workers ordered to stay home, it’s very difficult to cut live checks, as John and countless other accounts payable professionals are finding. Priorities have shifted, and remote supplier payments have jumped to the top of the list.

No doubt, AP departments will find a way to get it done. Paying invoices is a core function of every company, and people are working overtime to reach out to suppliers and get them paid electronically. Maybe there is some delay, but these companies will make it through the crisis.

But I think there’s more to learn from this whole experience than just solving a short-term problem. When we go back to “normal,” do we want our old payment processes to do the same, or is this our opportunity to start making long-overdue infrastructure upgrades?

Magnifying the challenges

AP is one of the last bastions of paper processing in the enterprise, and it comes with challenges. According to the latest research from AFP, companies still make 42 percent of their payments by paper check. All those processes that are involved with paying by check—printing them, hunting for approval and signatures, and stuffing envelopes—are culprits of inefficiency.

Back-end support adds another wrench into the process. Delays and errors are inevitable, so who do suppliers call when they’re missing a payment, or they’ve found an error? Processes for resolving these supplier issues in-house are maddeningly reactive.

Now these challenges are magnified, forcing us to think differently about how we run our businesses. A surprising number of people still think that making payments by check works, and up until recently, it’s been hard to argue with that. It’s not as efficient as it could be, but people have their check processing routines down. As more employees work from home, processes that required in-office attendance are no longer feasible. Just like John, many companies are reaching out to their suppliers, asking for different ways to make their payments. The new challenge: finding a way to securely store the data their suppliers provide them. Financial technology (fintech) companies have solved for this exact problem, and are ready to add value to AP workdays.

When most people think of adding technology to their business payments process, they usually imagine outsourcing the check writing process, doing ACH payments through their bank, and maybe having some kind of virtual card program.

Most fintechs have moved beyond that kind of disjointed offering. They look at the whole end-to-end process and implemented a process that streamlines payments and mitigates the risk of maintaining extensive supplier data by offering supplier services.

Beyond operational efficiency

Until now, the drive for supplier payment automation focused primarily on improving operational efficiency. As payment fraud rises, buyers have turned their attention to reducing the associated risk. Business continuity has not really been part of the conversation; if it came up, concerns got pushed aside as unlikely worst-case scenarios. Now is the time to address the elephant in the room, and push through the uncertainty to strengthen our AP teams.

We don’t know what the new norm is yet, but it seems clear that we’ll see a rise in remote work. The ability to quickly move so many operations online has been one source of resiliency during this time. Companies are learning more about roles previously considered to require a presence at headquarters. They’re finding that many HQ functions can be accomplished remotely by taking advantage of automation and cloud technology.

At a minimum, remote capabilities cater to the business continuity strategy that meets today’s needs. But in many cases, the other benefits like added security and supplier support make automation adoption a no-brainer. By removing the stress of getting manual check payments out the door, AP teams are freed up to apply their time to more beneficial and critical tasks.

Learn more

Join PCI and Nvoicepay on 10/14 for an overview of Nvoicepay and Costpoints API integration.

“This article originally appeared on Nvoicepay’s blog https://www.nvoicepay.com/resources/blog/the-most-important-reason-to-automate-payments-now/”

Transitioning to Costpoint

Transitioning to Costpoint

Are you on a legacy accounting system like QuickBooks and looking to make the move to Costpoint?

Here are key indicators you are ready for the transition:

Guidelines / Compliance
Multiple Government Contracts
Audit / SF1408 / Proposal Requirements
Approved by SBA for 8(a), WOSB, HUBZone etc.
Incurred Cost Submission requirements
Multiple software needs
Internal financial / reporting deficiencies

Access our on-demand webinar to learn why switching to Costpoint is critical for your small business, an overview of what implementation looks like and what to expect with your transition.

The Risks of Not Considering an Integrated Travel Management Solution

Having to make operational decisions on behalf of your business can be overwhelming. However, indecision and lack of action poses far more of a risk to the well-being of your business than you may think. See why tackling the decision to automate your processes matter when it comes to business travel for contractors. We’ve outlined the three biggest risks that come by not considering an integrated travel management solution.

1. Competition Isn’t Afraid of Change

The resistance to change may be holding back your organization but your peers within the industry have decided to pull the trigger to better allocate their employees time with expense automation. By leveraging new technology, they are better able to retain and find new customers, helping them to grow their business and give their employees hours back in their week to focus on the tasks that matter.

2. Time & Money Wasted

You can only cover up the pain of manual expenses for so long. Employees wasting time submitting their weekly, monthly or yearly expenses can add up.

Time = Money. You do the math.

3. Potential Loss of Top Talent

Innovation attracts and retains top talent. Having automated processes that are relevant and easy-to-use helps you to position your company as an industry leader. The truth of the matter is, if your team is forced to deal with cumbersome and time-consuming activities that can easily be fixed with an automated solution, they are going to find another company that invests in this type of technology.

We know, change is scary, but the reality is, we are living in a world of Digital Transformation. Old, manual and time-consuming tasks are going to put you behind the curve, waste money and increase employee turnover.

Learn how ARCH can automate your travel and expenses today!

Tidying Up Your Government Contracting Travel

Contract travel can be a messy and complex process. Employees may be using multiple booking tools and credit cards making it next to impossible to track whether your employees are staying within your travel policy guidelines. Below we’ve outlined the four largest concerns government contractors face with travel.

Top 4 Concerns for Government Contracting Travel

Per Diem – It’s often difficult to manually track employee travel to ensure they are booking approved per diem rates.
Corporate Travel Policy Compliance – Guidelines set by employers for business travel are often not followed.
Accurate Travel Spend Reporting – If employees are using personal credit cards, booking travel through Expedia and managing their own expenses it can be somewhat impossible to ensure you are accurately tracking all their expenses.
Manual and time-consuming expense process – Employees often delay submission of expense reports as it can be a tedious and time-consuming task.

An integrated travel and expense solution will ensure employees are following company travel policies. It will also allow access to real-time reporting tools and automate the expense reconciliation process. Learn more about how ARCH can be used as the single solution for booking, reporting and managing your travel policies.

For more information, contact us today.

The Basics of Incurred Cost Submission (ICS)

Do I need to file for Incurred Cost Submission (ICS)? If you have performed one or more Cost Reimbursable or Time and Materials (T&M) contracts (prime AND subcontracts) during your fiscal year in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 52.216-7, you will need to complete and submit Incurred Cost Submission (ICS) to the DCAA and DCMA.

When is the due date for ICS submissions? Incurred cost claims are due six (6) months after completion of the contractor’s fiscal year end.

What documentation do I need to provide? In accordance with the DCAA ICE Model, the following information is required in an ICS.

Schedule A – Summary of Indirect Expense Rates

Schedule B, C, D – Indirect Cost Pools

Schedule E – Claimed Allocation Bases

Schedule F – Cost of Money Schedule G Booked and Claimed Direct Costs

Schedule H – Direct Costs by Contract at Claimed Rates

Schedule H-1 – Government Participation by Pool

Schedule I – Cumulative Allowable Cost Worksheet

Schedule J – Subcontract Information

Schedule K – Hours and Amounts on T&M Contracts

Schedule L – Payroll Reconciliation

Schedule M – Accounting/Organization Changes

Schedule N – Certificate of Indirect Costs

Schedule O – Contract Closing Information

Why should you care? You may have to lower your rates and pay the government back the difference if your overhead costs are less than projected. It is important to monitor your costs, particularly overhead costs before your ICS is due. Should your costs be lower than projected maybe it’s time to make an investment that you have been putting off in efforts to maintain your billing rates. On the other hand, if your costs are much higher than expected you don’t want to wait until the end of the year to try to cut costs or tell your client that rates are going up. Lastly, if submissions are late, you may be at risk to lose the ability to bill the government and could even be subject to penalties.

Now What? Do you have questions about your ICS? Contact PCI’s government contract specialists to prepare or review your Incurred Cost Submission. Contact us today!

What Value Will Deltek Insight Bring to Government Contracting Accounting Professionals?

What Value Will Deltek Insight Bring to Government Contracting Accounting Professionals?

Historically, many have written to the ROI of the Deltek Insight conference. Using it to “convince” management or a boss that it would be beneficial for the organization that they attend. This is not that discussion. This is about you as an accounting/finance professional, your growth and your value to your current or any future organization you may be a part of.

Deltek has been offering the conference forum to their users for a long time now (well over 15 years) but about 12 years ago (give or take) Deltek began the Deltek Insight branded conference to include all Deltek products under one knowledge umbrella.

To date, I have attended all but one of these (the year my daughter was born). When I first started going, I was a user at an organization of about 70 employees in size. The event opened my eyes in many ways, and at that point, two things happened:

I wished that I went when the company was smaller, as it’s hard to turn a big ship
I made sure I could attend every conference in the future.

Why I Attend Every Deltek Conference:

Today, there are so many one-day seminars, lunch & learns, workshops, etc. I have attended many of these and there is always one theme throughout; most people spend the event in the hallway on their phones, or in the session checking their email on their phone/laptop. Basically, working remotely for some or part of the day. Additionally, most of these events are heavily attended by service providers and there is little you can glean from what your peers are doing. In short, separation from the day-to-day duties of your job make it impossible to see what’s in front of you and determine how it applies to you and your organization or skillset.

As a professional in the Government Contract accounting space, and in particular when you are in this role at a small or mid-sized business, you need to be able to separate yourself from the day to day, to think strategically about your skillset and your organization’s needs and growth pattern. Deltek Insight offers this exact forum. Your first job is to get the books closed and monthly operations completed, but as a professional, you need to stay in front of your industry, and your organization.

As the organization you work for grows, the team you will work with daily will grow, as will the needs of the organization. As a leader, people will look to you for solutions, to know what’s possible.

Don’t miss this opportunity to grow yourself.

Deltek Insight Format:

The format for Deltek Insight lends itself to growth. By separating you from your daily activities for a few days, you are able to focus on what is in front of you. Deltek provides a forum for you to talk to other users in your industry, see what they are doing and how they do it. However, knowing you are busy, the conference builds breaks around lunch into the schedule to allow you to perform your required daily activities as well as catch up on email so you don’t return to the office with a pile of incomplete tasks. Over the course of the week you will find there is always someone who has walked down the road you are setting out on. Meeting them at the start of your journey is of tremendous value.

While you are growing, so is Deltek; as a software company, Deltek is now updating functionality in systems on a monthly basis, this means that if you have not been keeping up, there are 12 updates to the product since the last conference!

As a leader in the space, Deltek is ideally positioned to give you an understanding of capabilities like:

Subcontractors
Contracts Management
DCAA Incurred Cost
Revenue & Audit Trends
Proposal and Opportunity Management
Recruitment of Talent
Human Resources Management
Project Management
Provisional and Forward Rates

Deltek Insight not only discusses how these types of activities can happen but also how to optimize processes that you may already be doing, simple tasks like AP processing, Cash Forecasting, Credit Card Reconciliation.

In Addition, many of the functions you perform today may be getting updates/upgrades and you will have an opportunity to see these functions in advance of their release. Giving you a minute to plan and get your organization ready for the things to come.

My Objectives as a user or Insight:

Find out about enhancements to things we are already doing
Build relationships with the Deltek product managers
Learn about new features that may be helpful in the future
Learn how others are handling the same challenges you face every day

It’s easy to see why I like the atmosphere of learning provided by the Deltek Insight conference. Understand it will be about a $5k investment by you or your organization to step away for a few days. The knowledge, relationships, and perspective you will gain far exceed the costs associated. The biggest challenge in life becomes balance, don’t let your professional education and learning not get its due; staying ahead of the curve is far easier than catching those that get in front of you. If you have taken time to read all of this, and do believe in the benefits of attending, as a sponsor for the conference we have some coupons to share with those who may be interested in attending – send us a note and we will send you a code! There are only a few to go around.

Register for Insight Now

-Martin McGann, Founder of PCI