
Ask HN: Government contracting - webex
I ve read on this before but I haven&#x27;t found answer to this.<p>Does it make sense to bid on state government contracts before going to federal ones? Does it give your startup company any advantage?<p>Is this a good way to build references for your startup for the ultimate purpose of getting federal work or even remaining at state level and being big player down the line?
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samgensburg
Starting at the state or local level, or in the private sector, can be
helpful, but many contractors have started directly in federal contracting,
including, most recently, Nava and Ad Hoc.

If you want to get into federal contracting, you need to start networking and
researching how a particular part of the federal government operates. Pick a
particular department, and start there. The biggest spenders are the DoD, the
VA, and CMS, so most people start out focusing on one of those agencies,
although there may be some advantage of targeting a smaller agency where there
will be less competition. It's hard to overstate how much of a vendor
community there is around each of these agencies, but you can start following
industry newsletters and events that are specific to any one of the above
agencies, although most of them will be in the DC area.

The other thing to note is that almost everyone starts off in federal
contracting as a subcontractor. It's fairly unusual for a company to land its
first federal contract as a prime, and this would require substantial
networking in DC. Your best bet is to start networking with contracting firms,
and see if you can find a niche. Once you're inside an agency, you'll have a
better sense of what your next steps should be, and how you would take the
leap into bidding as a prime.

Finally, it's worth noting that the federal government has multiple small
business programs that you can take advantage of. The most valuable and
hardest to qualify for is the 8(a) program, but there's many others for
veterans, minorities, and women. Also, no matter who your founders are, you
can always qualify for the HUBZone program. However, to qualify for any of
these programs, you're going to need to plan for that from the founding of
your business.

Anyway, I hope that helps, let me know if you have any more specific
questions.

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techjuice
It may be easier to do the state government contracts first to get used to
doing them, get certified and arrange your accounting and other business
practices to conform to government regulations. If you just contract in your
current state you can grow very quickly, especially if it is for information
technology, business management, cyber or physical security related services.

If you have a strong state presence it will be easier for the federal
government to validate you for consideration for federal contracts. The best
thing about doing the state contracts is if you see another contractor did a
shoddy job you can bid for the work that is required to fix it (roads,
buildings, computer systems, etc.) next time you are at your local courthouse
or any government building ask them how things are running. If you hear
complaints, there is a good chance that there is a contract out to get things
fixed that you can bid on. The smaller the agency/government unit the faster
the contract will normally be awarded (city->county->state->federal), though
the bigger the agency normally the bigger the requirements.

If you have a nice bit of successful state contracts it should help you build
up enough liquid money that is required to bid on the more lucrative
government contracts (some require 1,000,000 in liquid cash to qualify) so you
can pay employees even if you get a stop work order from the COTR.

Best way to get big is to start small and build a solid foundation and become
a company that all levels of government can trust.

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codingdave
You don't get any advantages in the selection process, but you do learn how
the procurement process works in government. And yes, state agencies are great
references... government entities do talk to each other, often. Your
reputation with one will be known by the others. Which can be a double-edged
sword if you don't have your act together, but can be the heart of your
company if you are service-oriented.

However, the idea that federal is somehow a step up from state is a bit odd to
me. There are 50 states, and 1 country. Targeting the federal entities is
putting all your eggs in one basket. Sure, it is a big basket... but a federal
budget change could crush you.

~~~
stevehawk
Politicians won't kill the federal budget though because of the job losses.
Neither party will. All you gotta do is span your work across a couple of
agencies and you're largely insulated.

The worst part of federal contacting is running the business. The accounting,
the contacting, etc, and almost all revenue is based on butts in seats. If you
can sell a product instead of time then you are much better off.

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maxxxxx
I know someone who first bid in county contracts, then on state, and now on
federal. She says it was easier and quicker to talk to people at county levels
so she could improve their bidding practices. With federal the process is less
personal and as a new company it's hard to get access.

Also: For a small company it helps to be part women or minority owned because
a certain percent of contracts has to go to these.

~~~
mieseratte
> Also: For a small company it helps to be part women or minority owned
> because a certain percent of contracts has to go to these.

There's a lot of Federal contractors in my neck of the woods, and a few
friends have joked that if they could just find a minority, female, combat-
injured veteran to partner with they'd have a license to print money as you're
effectively guaranteed a contract at that point.

~~~
droidist2
Interesting. What counts as minority though? Does Chinese? It feels like in
Silicon Valley they don't qualify as minority, but maybe in
business/government.

~~~
mieseratte
Per the SBA[0]:

> These groups include: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native
> Americans, Alaska Native Corporations, Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian
> Organizations and Community Development Corporations, Asian Pacific
> Americans and Subcontinent Asian Americans.

Additionally

> Individuals who are not members of one or more of these groups can be
> considered for the 8(a) program, but they must provide substantial evidence
> and documentation that demonstrates that they have been subjected to bias or
> discrimination and are economically disadvantaged.

[0] - [https://www.sba.gov/blogs/woman-owned-sdvosb-and-minority-
ow...](https://www.sba.gov/blogs/woman-owned-sdvosb-and-minority-owned-are-
business-designations-necessary)

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chrisbennet
As a data point, I know 2 friends who attempted contracts with the Federal
Governement. Both went out of business. The problem is that the process moves
soooo slooowly that you run out of money before you can close the contract.
This was for hardware/software for military or 3 letter agencies.

I also had a little personal experience with the state level. It came as a
surprise to me that they could kinda care less if you saved them money. Save
them $100K? It just gets subtracted from their next years budget.

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pricees
Do you all have any resources for getting started with contract bidding? Where
to see open contracts? What it takes to be considered, legitimately? Thanks.

~~~
stevehawk
There are some websites that you can join for a fee where they aggregate local
and state contracts.

Federal contracts are published in a handful of places as well like FedBiz.

Federally for small businesses it very much helps to be women, veteran,
disabled veteran, alaskan based, or minority owned, to win work. But don't
listen to haters and bad PR, you can do it if you don't fall into that
category as well.

If you want to get into military or intelligence community work sometimes you
need a clearance just to see the bids.

What'd I'd recommend for a lot of people is to reach out to larger, small
businesses (like 300 person) and see if they have any work to sub out. Then
try to go from there.

I subbed to a company that was on a large IC IDIQ and it was easy to grow
under that, but that situation is unique and anecdotal.

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avs733
As a note...almost every state has an economic development office that can
help with these questions for young or small businesses. Often they are
associated with universities.

Frankly, they are hugely underutilized resources and are effectively free
labor for dealing with government grants, contracting, etc.

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nawgszy
Not going to lie, thought this was someone from Cisco Webex posting a how-to
on govt contracting.

Alas.

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wiphonica
Any independent sales agent who specialize in Govt sales/contract? . We are
telecom service provider who can use your expertise and skill to bid govt
contracts. feel free to email me.

