Government Contract Awards

When a government entity determines a need for a particular product or service, it will often work with the public sector to find a provider. Those businesses will compete to win a government contract to provide that product or service. If your government contracting firm is seeking to grow its sales to the public sector, you need to learn everything you need to know about government contact awards.

Simply put, a government contract award is the amount of money the government has agreed to pay the contractor for its goods or services, along with the other stipulations of the contract agreement.

Government organizations will often work with private providers of goods and services to fulfill their needs by entering into a government contract. This is often a competitive process that results in a government contract award.

Government contract awards are given to companies during the Capture Planning and Award stage of the government contracting lifecycle.

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Federal awards most commonly come from either one of two government contract types: fixed-price contracts and cost-reimbursement contracts.

• Fixed-price contracts are used by all U.S. federal governments and by many other types of government. These contracts generally provide a single set, although an adjustable price level may sometimes be preferred. Fixed-price contracts are typically the method used when the contract risk is relatively, and the contractor and the government are likely to come to an agreement of the maximum price.
• Cost-reimbursement contracts, sometimes referred to as cost-plus contracts, are a type of contract agreement where a contractor is paid for all of its allowed expenses, plus an extra amount that allows the contractor to profit.

Two other, somewhat less common types of government contract award are IDIQ (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity) contracts, and time and materials contracts.

Governments are required to set aside a set amount of their procurement dollars for qualifying small businesses. Other opportunities are available for a small business to get government contracts, like serving as a subcontractor on a larger government contract, or entering into a teaming agreement with one or more other government contractors.

Below is a listing of various types of government contract awards that are specifically designed for small businesses. These contract opportunities are relevant for different sub-categories of small businesses.

Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracts

The government aims to award at least 5% of federal contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses every year.

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Contracts

The government aims to award at least 3% of federal contracting dollars to SDVOSB firms every year.

8(a) Business Development Contracts

The government aims to award at least 5% of federal contracting dollars to qualified small disadvantaged businesses every year through the 8(a) program.

HUBZone Government Contracts

The government aims to award at least 3% of federal contracting dollars to HUBZone-certified small businesses every year. A HUBZone is a historically underutilized business zone where the government is looking to foster economic activity such as job creation. Of the small business programs, it is the only program not focused on the ownership of the business, but rather on the location of the business and its employees.

Other Small Business Government Contracts

State, local and education governments, as well as Canadian governments, offer their own programs for small businesses to find and win more government contract awards. Contact the agency you are interested in doing business with to find out what types of opportunities they offer that are set aside specifically for small businesses.

As the government market has grown, diversification has become a necessary part of many government contractors’ portfolios. Whether that’s branching out to pursue new opportunities in a new industry or working with a new government entity, it can be challenging to land a new government contract award.

In order to make the jump from identifying an opportunity to putting together a quality proposal, and ultimately actually winning a government contract award, contractors must go through several steps. This starts with deciding whether or not to submit a bid on the government contract, and it continues all the way through the actual awarding of the contract itself.

1. Make an effective bid/no-bid decision on whether to pursue the opportunity
2. Research and influence the opportunity
3. Develop a sound strategy to help you surpass your competition
4. Conduct a competitive analysis of the opportunity
5. Assemble a winning and diversified team
6. Perform price to win analysis

What Happens After the Government Contract is Awarded?

If your business wins a government contract award, the next step is to fulfill the service or provide the product. If your company did not win, the Contracting Officer (CO) is required to notify your company either orally or through a written statement within a reasonable amount of time.

The CO also must debrief all bidders, outlining the number of proposals received, the names of the firms that proposed, and further explanation of how the contract decision was made. It is in the best interest of the contractor to always take the debriefing, whether or not the contract has been won. It offers a chance to get a leg up on the competition the next time around and can strengthen future proposals by identifying where the proposal went astray, if the contract was lost.

The US Federal Government shares its award information on its SAM.gov website, which replaced the older FedBizOpps site. Many reports on federal government acquisition awards are available to the public, along with many government bids, RFPs and contract vehicles.

The Federal Government of Canada’s online procurement services have transitioned to a new website entitled CanadaBuys, replacing the former Buyandsell portal. Notices of procurement opportunities are posted to CanadaBuys, which is now the designated website for all Canadian federal tenders and contract awards.

At the SLED (state, local and education) level of government in the U.S., individual governments will often post their government contract awards on their own websites. The same holds true for Canadian territorial, provincial and MASH (municipalities, academic institutions, schools, and hospitals) governments.

The best single place to find government contract awards from all types of government is within GovWin IQ from Deltek, which centralizes government contract awards coming from U.S. federal, state and local, and Canadian government entities. This market intelligence platform tool contains a comprehensive list of government contract awards from governments purchasing all types of products or services. More than 5,500 companies rely on GovWin IQ for the latest and most comprehensive information solutions, including market intelligence, sales management tools, teaming solutions, networking opportunities and educational events.

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